Iran: the most hospitable country you're scared of

I arrived in Iran nervous. Years of headlines had done their work, and I expected suspicion, hostility, maybe worse. What I got, within an hour, was strangers stopping me on the street to say welcome to Iran, and then running out of English but smiling anyway.

It kept happening. I queued for a palace and fell into conversation with the women in front of me, and we ended up having lunch together, talking about how life really works there compared with Europe. They were relaxed, funny, and nothing like the picture I had been sold.

That afternoon they invited us to the opening of an underground art gallery, the kind that is not officially allowed. Nobody seemed especially worried. People simply lived their lives and found their ways around, and we were welcomed in as guests of honour because no other foreigners were there.

The place I most dreaded was the great shrine in the country's holiest city. We dressed as carefully as we could and braced for a lesson in not belonging. Nobody cared. Thousands of people were praying, studying, playing with their kids and taking selfies. When half our group got lost in the crowd, a stranger immediately pointed us to them.

Walking at night, no threat. Getting a local sim card, a stranger used his own credentials to fix one for us. Everywhere, the instinct was to help first and ask questions later.

You can dislike a government and adore its people. In Iran, the gap between the two is the widest I have found anywhere, and the people won easily.

Go. The welcome will embarrass you.