( Tribune Media Services ) -- Two young Iranian parents smiled at me , showing mock desperation as their little boy and girl eagerly dragged them into a shop famous for its pistachio ice cream sandwiches . Around the corner , filling the side of a 15-story building , a government-sponsored propaganda mural showed a perverted American flag , with skulls for stars and falling bombs for stripes . Iranian women must wear a scarf , but many leave a tuft of hair showing at the forehead . That bizarre mixture -- of saber-rattling politics alongside the personal warmth of individual locals -- is what struck me on my recent 12-day trip to Iran to film a public-television show . I found Iran to be perhaps the most misunderstood and fascinating land I 've ever visited . And I learned a lot . The country is not free . It seems that people -- motivated by fear of Western influences and love of their children -- have forgone democracy for their theocracy . Parents told me , `` We do not want our girls to grow up to be Britney Spears , '' and they are willing to sacrifice some freedom to achieve that goal . They feel their `` revolution of values '' provides an environment where they can raise their children free from the cheap sex , drug abuse and crass materialism of the West . Iranian women must wear a scarf , but many leave a tuft of hair showing at the forehead . After several days , that provocative tuft attracted my eye like cleavage . Making sure that what they can show is as beautiful as possible , Iranian women , per capita , lead the world in nose jobs . Faces are beautifully made up , and -- when so much else is covered -- can be particularly expressive and mysterious . Eye contact is riveting . Before arriving in Iran , I was so afraid of anti-Americanism that we had nearly left our big expensive TV camera in Athens and considered flying in with a less obtrusive model . But once there , I found people curious , courteous and quick to smile -- especially when they learned we were American . I 've never had such fun with people or found them so chatty than on the streets of Iran . Tehran is modern and bustling , with thriving shopping malls , cars clogging the streets and most people wearing Western-style clothes . Unlike many Muslim capitals , minarets do not dot the skyline , and I barely heard a call to prayer . And yet it 's clearly a theocracy . Multiple TV stations broadcast religious programming ( along with BBC and CNN ) that 's perfect for praying -- images of the sun setting on the sea , or the pilgrimage center in Mecca in real-time . In the United States , billboards and ads encourage us to consume , but in Iran , government-sponsored billboards , Muzak and TV programming is all about the teachings of great holy men . I asked my guide if it 's okay to be non-Muslim in Iran . `` Yes , '' he said , `` We have religious freedom , as long as it is not offensive to Islam . '' Christian ? `` Sure . '' Jewish ? `` Sure . '' Bahai ? `` No . We believe that Mohammed -- who came in the 7th century -- was the last prophet , so the Bahai prophet ( 19th century ) is offensive to Islam . '' I asked , `` What if you want to get somewhere in the military or government ? '' My guide answered , `` Then you better be a Muslim -- a practicing , Shiite Muslim . '' Every film crew stops at the former U.S. Embassy . It was here in 1979 that a gang of revolutionary students stormed what they called the `` Den of Spies '' and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days . For Iranians back then , it was a proud moment of triumph against the nation that had meddled in their affairs for years . The embassy wall is still covered with anti-American murals painted at that time . But the hostage crisis was 30 years ago . Most Iranians were n't even born then . It 's ancient history to our young guide . With our work done , we hurried to catch our flight home . As we crawled through Tehran 's traffic , our driver cursed , `` Death to traffic . '' Shocked , I said , `` What ? I thought it was death to America . '' He said , `` Here in Iran , when something frustrates us and is out of our control , we say 'death ' to that . '' Then I thought , when people in my society say , `` Damn those teenagers , '' they do n't mean they wish them to die and burn in hell for eternity ... they just want the kids to turn down the music . Boarding our plane , the Air France flight attendants -- so stylish with hair flowing freely -- seemed to welcome us as if onto a life raft . Women pulled off their scarves , wine was poured , and we flew west with the raw footage of a program we hoped would humanize a proud country of 70 million people . Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio . E-mail him at rick @ ricksteves.com , or write to him c/o P.O . Box 2009 , Edmonds , Wash. 98020 . Copyright 2009 RICK STEVES , DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES , INC .
Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows . Recently Steves has been working on a series on Iran . Steves ' company , Europe Through the Back Door , conducts European tours .