IRAN - They met in Rome earlier this year: The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran wore black; the Pope of the Catholic Church dressed in white. But instead of a shoot-out over religious differences, there was "an exchange of civilizations" in the words of Ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, who is fast becoming an Iranian Gorbachev.

Ever since the Shah fell from power in February 1979, Americans have been accustomed to thinking of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a purposefully isolated island of religious fervor and back-to-the-Middle-Ages seriousness.

For this recent visitor to Iran, however, the reality proved otherwise. My encounters strongly reinforce an increasingly inescapable truth: the fundamentalist Islamic Republic state faces the 21st century with an uncertain lease on life. The United States -- dubbed "the Great Satan" by Khomeini -- is far less the enemy than the extremist mullahs who would keep Iran shut off from the world.

Few place names can rev up the pulse of the average American faster than "Iran." Want to find out what your friends and family really think of you? Tell them you're going for a traipse through the land of the Ayatollahs -- then see if they care. Yet as I traveled from Tehran to such major cities as Esfahan and Kerhman, Yazd and Shiraz, I was overwhelmed with the warm welcome an American received from Iranians.

At the central mosque in Yazd, the birthplace of President Mohammad Khatami, a liberal who was elected in 1997 in a stunning upset over the hand-picked candidate of hard-line clergy, men seemed more eager to read the Friday morning newspapers hung in glass frames along the wall than to pass through the open gate for Friday morning prayers.

After a cursory frisk job from a soldier, I moved forward for a sideways glance into the unlighted mosque. A black-turbaned Ayatollah sat preaching in shadow. I never even hoped to step inside. Incredibly, a man dressed in black shirt and pants -- the informal uniform of a welcoming committee lined up by the mosque's door -- came forward holding a glass of tea and sugar cubes on a tin tray. I accepted these gifts with a bow of my head, then realized my host expected me to follow him inside the mosque. My boots came off immediately, and I joined the congregation while trying not to let the hot tea shake too violently from the excitement.

The Ayatollah was a beaming elderly man with bright eyes and a soft voice. A group of soldiers sat cross-legged at his feet. He may have been thinking of them when the Ayatollah told how, "the way to Paradise is not only on the battlefield, but also through a good life and a strong faith."

Later, I reflected that the Iranians' faith was at least strong enough to allow an outsider a glimpse of their most important ritual. The invitation to me that morning demonstrated great courage and trust on their parts, I thought. When an infidel takes tea inside a mosque with an Ayatollah, fear and suspicion get left outside with the shoes and sandals.

Back in Tehran on the eve of my departure, I rode through the streets of the city's swank northern district in the back seat of a late-model Peugeot. The driver, a twenty-something Tehranian, played a tape of Paula Abdul at a volume that shook the dashboard. Such music -- and sung by a woman no less -- amounted to forbidden contraband that also includes alcohol, pictures of women "showing hair or flesh," and anything else that Iranian clergy have deemed might "violate public order and decency" and "promote moral and ideological perversion."

The car's windows were opened, and although we were already something of a mobile disco, I leaned forward and asked the driver to pump up the volume. He gladly obliged, and we continued our ride through Tehran with the music loud enough to draw attention from pedestrians. Twenty years ago, "Death to America" may have topped the charts on the Iranian hit parade, but today, the chant would have to be, "Viva Paula."

Practical Information About Going to Iran

Outfitters

Asian Pacific Adventures, 826 South Sierra Bonita Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone 213-935-3156. FAX 213-935-2691
E-mail travelasia@earthlink.net

Visas

Apply to the Iranian Interests Section of the Embassy of Pakistan, 2209 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20007
Phone 202-965-4990, FAX 202-965-1073.

For a U.S. State Department information sheet (including the latest "travel advisory") on Iran, call 202-647-3000 from a fax machine and follow the voice prompts for a fax print-out; recorded information is available at 202-647-5225.

Transportation

Lufthansa German Airlines flies direct to Tehran from Frankfort five times weekly. In the U.S. and Canada, Lufthansa flies direct to Frankfurt from 12 gateway cities. For schedules, fares and information, call (800) 645-3880.

Lodging

• Mashhad Hotel, Tehran, around the corner from the former U.S. Embassy (a.k.a., "Nest of Spies), phone (021) 882-1545
• Akhavan Hotel, Kerman, phone(0341) 46786
• Hotel Safa'iy, Yazd, phone (0351) 61289
• Hotel Atlas, Shiraz, phone (071) 47748 -- ask for "Henry" at reception, he trained with the U.S. Air Force and still speaks with a Texas accent.
• Hotel Soffeh, Esfahan, phone (031) 686462

The country code for Iran is 98.

Further Reading

Classic:

• "The Travels of Sir John Chardin into Persia and the East Indies" (1686)
• "A Year Amongst the Persians," Edward Browne (1893)
• "The Valleys of the Assasians," Freya Stark (1936)
• "The Road to Oxiana," Robert Byron (1937)

• "Inside Iran, Life Under Khomeini's Regime," John Simpson (1988)
• "A Traveller on Horseback," Christina Dodwell (1989)
• "The Ends of the Earth," Robert Kapan (1996)
• "Beyond Belief," V.S. Naipaul (1998), follow up to "Among the Believers" (1981)