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| Under Mount Ararat |
Apologies for the long gap in posting to the blog, but we have spent most of the last three weeks in Iran, where access to blogs is blocked, so despite having internet connection most days we have not been able to post anything. Jumping to today we are currently in Bukhara in Uzbekistan where there are no limitations, but a slow internet connection.
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| Paddling in the Caspian Sea |
Picking up from the last entry, we exited Georgia and spent a couple of days crossing eastern Turkey - calling at Ani, a remote deserted city on the old silk road which used to house 100,000 people. All that remains are some of the larger structures such as the mosque, churches and temples and sections of the old walls. Most of the area is overgrown mounds where houses and shops once stood. Our last night in Turkey we camped under mount Ararat, but saw no ark.
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| Massouleh Village |
As British citizens we had to have a guide in Iran so were met at the border and drove to Tabriz. As with all the cities we visited they are colourful, vibrant and feel very western, with bright lights, couples and families picnicking in the parks, and a fantastic welcome from so many people on the streets, and passing us in cars. At times it was difficult to walk down the streets as so many people wanted to welcome us and chat. Our route through Iran included visits to old villages in the mountains, a swim in the Caspian sea at Astara right on the Azerbaijan border, and stays in Tehran, Kashan, Esfahan, Shiraz and Yazd. Hamad our guide was fantastic, a great sense of humour as well as knowing, and being proud of the history of Persia. We certainly learnt a lot about the differences between Persians and Arabs, and the central role of Persia in the development of civilisation.
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| Mosque in Esfahan |
Without listing all the fabulous buildings and gardens we visited the highlights:
First the people - genuinely welcoming, we were even stopped on the motorway by a passing car driver who wanted us to visit his village. we were fortunate to spend a couple of evenings with two different families, who were both very generous, interested in our thoughts on Iran and keen to see some of the restrictions removed.
Second the architecture - which is indescribable - especially in Esfahan, where the blue and yellow tilework on the mosques and palaces is exquisite, and the bustle of locals, especially in the evenings is infectious.
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| Tomb of Cyrus the Great |
Third the history - with records of the first arch, evidence of some of the first agriculture and the first city constitution - Iran has seen some of the major developments in the world. Visits to the tomb of Cyrus the Great as well as Darius and Xerxes were surreal, as these are names read about in the Old Testament, and the visit to nearby Persepolis extraordinary. The relief work is so perfectly preserved and exquisite.
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| Persepolis |
Fourth the scenery. Iran is generally mountainous with most of the centre and east of the country at or above 4000 ft, and apart from a small strip along the Caspian Sea in the north, where they grow a lot of rice, is generally arid. However large areas are productive through excellent, and often ancient irrigation systems.
The only downside to our visit was that we were in Iran for the hottest time of the year with temperatures up into the 40's
Having collected our Turkmenistan transit visa in Tehran we were able to exit Iran in the north and crossed Turkmenistan in three days, stopping at Ancient Merv overnight. Whereas Iran is all mountains, Turkmenistan in completely flat, with large areas of fertile irrigated land in the south and a large desert in the north. Much of the water for the irrigation is diverted from a river which used to feed the Aral Sea, and is used to grow cotton. The canal was built when Turkmenistan was under Russian rule.
Yesterday we crossed into Uzbekistan, a country which feels much poorer than either Iran or Turkmenistan, but which hosts cities of legend such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent. Borders are both interesting and frustrating places. Each country had a different procedure, and some such as Iran seem completely disorganised - exiting Iran the passport office had four officers inside, one of whom was dealing with passports while piles of passports handed through a grill were dropped on the floor, or randomly stamped and put into another pile. The officer took around 30 minutes just to deal with ours. On the Turkmenistan side the details of my passport and car were hand written into six separate ledgers and we had to pay $100 for the transit of our car across the country. Entering Uzbekistan the customs officers we fascinated by our binoculars and spent 20 minutes with them scanning the surrounding countryside. In general it seems to take a total of 3 to 4 hours to exit one country and enter the next. Spare a thought for the truck drivers who often spend days waiting to cross a border.
