In the footsteps of Historical Legends

Medressa in Bukhara

Great names from the past have loomed over our travels for the past couple of weeks, from Cyrus the Great, Xerxes and Darius in Iran, we have now come to meet with the legacy of Tamerlane, who built an empire centred on Samarkand in the 15th century. The area has been repeatedly conquered from Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC to the ravages of Ghengis Khan in the 13th Century. We have just arrived in Samarkand - that city of legends, after visiting Shakhrisabz - Tamerlane's home city where he built a vast palace, and mausoleums for two of his sons.A couple of nights camping in the mountains provided a chance to do some necessary maintenance on the vehicle and to relax in the relatively cooler air. First impressions of Samarkand is that it is a modern cosmopolitan city, yesterday evening there was a concert to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Uzbekistans independence. One requirement in Uzbekistan is that we have to have a registration slip at least every 3 days, and the easiest was it to stay in a hotel - our travel in Uzbekistan is also limited as diesel is almost impossible to obtain, so we are limited to how far we can travel, and consequently will have to head directly to the Kazak border from here.  

Into Iran and Beyond

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.












To Turkey and beyond to Georgia

and so into Asia - crossing the Bosphorous

Wild camping in Eastern Turkey

Kings gate Hattusa - capital of Hittite Empire

We are sitting in the sun in Gorgeous Georgia having sped across Turkey in four days calling at Ankara to apply for a Turkmenistan visa, and stopping at the old capital of the Hittiies at Hattusa, a fabulously decorated old mosque at Divrigi, drove along beside part of the Euphrates, and stopped at the cliff hanging Sumela monastery, but could not go in as it is closed for refurbishment. Each night we have driven up into the mountains and camped in some superb locations, very peaceful, quiet and so dark the milky way is astonishingly bright. We crossed into Georgia yesterday, spending 7 hours waiting to get out of Turkey at the border with Georgia near Batumi. Lots of little old UK cars were in the queue taking part in the Mongolian rally to Ulan Batur. Most driven by youngsters aiming to cross from the UK to Mongolia in 6 weeks, then many planning to drive back through Russia!. Rather them than me.


Doorway at Divrigi Mosque

Sumela Monastery

First impressions of Georgia are that it is very relaxed, fabulous scenery and very unspoilt. The only downside is that the roads do seem to be in a pretty poor state, so getting round may take some time.

Running out of PC battery in this street café, so will try and post some photos when we have more time, and power.  











Beautiful Bulgaria

Following a flying visit  to London to pick up visas for Iran - we chose the hottest day of the year to spend in the Iranian Consulate - we returned to Bucharest and camped in the airport car park, well we did arrive back at 3.30am much less well developed here. With nothing to detain us we headed south to cross the Danube for the last time and entered Bulgaria, heading for the medieval capital of Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo. The campsite here is fabulous, shaded by walnut trees, sited adjacent to a very placid river and run by a retired rock climbing Englishman who moved here 9 years ago.

Veliko Tarnovo boasts the fabulous Tsaravets fortress which dominates the town, perched on
top of a rock buttress and protected by cliffs forming a large loop in the river. It is surrounded by beautiful wooded slopes and was clearly a strategic location. In the town old cobbled streets house a variety of artisans making goods in their shops.

8 days - 8 countries

The Not so Blue Danube in Austria

Saxon Sibiu in Romania

It was always going to be a gallop through Europe, and so it has proved. The camper is parked up in Bucharest in Romania having driven down through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and now Romania. The one constant so far has been the excellent motorways and main roads, though as we penetrate deeper into eastern Europe the motorways are becoming much newer, some incomplete, and the side roads less well maintained.

Much of the journey for the past week has been along or near the Danube which is flowing fast and brown after a few days of rain, with the scenery changing from a beautiful valley lined with apricot orchards, to rolling fields of sunflowers. We also seem to have driven along the boundary between the heat of the south and the colder air of the north resulting in regular spectacular evening thunderstorms. To break the travelling we stopped off in Bratislava to view the old town, and spent half a day in Sibiu in Romania - a well restored Saxon town with some very elegant 14th century buildings. A lazy day in a meadow of flowers in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains relieved some of the monotony of the motorways  
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Away - at last

After a hectic few weeks selling the house and preparing the van we eventually left the UK on 7th July - catching a late ferry and driving to near Thiepval where we were due to attend a commemorative service for the fallen of the Somme on 8th. A very moving experience in lovely warm weather. The next objective - we have to be near Nurenburg in S Germany on Monday to have a rear differential lock fitted at Tom's, so drove through the rolling golden countryside, passing many combine harvesters at work, and stopping on a site near the French German border. Having added many last minute items we spent a morning repacking and reorganising before hitting the German autobahns and driving to Wirtzburg. A lazy day catching up on sleep before the short drive to Tom's where we are in their reception area while they work on the vehicle.

With the intention of leaving the UK at the end of June, preparations are hotting up, especially as we are also selling the house and have to sift through 25 years of accumulated contents as well.

Sadly the Landrover based camper we used for our African trip in 2007, and going "Round the Baltic" last year has been sold due to unreliability, and we are setting off in a different vehicle - a camper based on a Landcruiser HZJ79 with the bodywork constructed by Custom Campers in Germany, and the internal fit out completed by myself. It has taken far longer than expected, but is almost complete now. The vehicle has passed its Individual Vehicle Inspection and we are now just waiting for the paperwork from DVLA which will give it a registration number and road tax. Once this is completed we will be able to apply for the various visas we will need to travel through some countries en route.