Majnoni: "We need to cancel our understanding of what we know of Iran."

Italians Aurora Majnoni, 24, college student (left) and traveling companion Maddalena Artusi, 25, at Ali Qapu Palace, Isfahan, Iran.

AM: “We came to Iran [10 days ago] by land from Turkey. As soon as we entered Iran we immediately sensed that culture changed.”

MA: “We could see people here have a lot more culture, more education, more sophistication, more university education.”

AM: “Here we were able to communicate with people everywhere without worrying about what they would want from us in return.

MA: “In every city, we’ve had incidences of total strangers coming up to us and saying, ‘Welcome to Iran.’ From the way they were smiling, we could tell it was earnest. It wasn’t a show; it wasn’t for an ulterior motive.”

AM: “We had the same happening in Turkey [people welcoming us]. But it was always either for money or something like, ‘Do you want to marry me?’

“I don’t want to speak bad of Turkey; I had wonderful things happen to me there. But the atmosphere was totally different. It was a lot more commercial and insincere.”

“We’ve had no trouble with Iranians in any way, from the very beginning. They gave us a visa in just 10 days. We feel safe here.

“What we’ve found here is very different than what you see in media in the West.

“I think we need to cancel our understanding of what we [in the West] know of Iran. There are way too many misunderstandings, too much propaganda.”