When we arrived in Iran, we discovered the Iranian currency: the rial (1 euro= 13,000 rials). And in the first bureau de change we went to, we became acquainted with the simple joy of being millionaires.

We quickly familiarised ourselves with the rate before the first transactions. Because even if the currency in Iran is the rial, everybody actually speaks about ‘tomans’. Knowing that 1 toman= 10 rials, confusion is often possible (is it a bit expensive or really good value?).

We thought we were doing well by learning how to read the price tags written in Iranian numbers (a version of the Arabic numbers distinctly different from ours). It was not to be that easy: while some shopkeepers display their prices in rials, others prefer tomans and some cheerfully combine both.

A headache was in the store for us…and the confusion was total when we met Iranians who, thinking they were making it easier for us, spoke to us in Khomeini (from the name of the famous Ayatollah shown on all the 10,000 rials notes) or  in American dollars. In fact, things are simpler than they appear. By a strange irony of history, 1 ‘Khomeini’= 1 US dollar. And this is the standard used by taxi drivers when they raise one or two fingers.
           The bazaar in Tabriz

François
(Translation: Yolene Dabreteau)