More wonderful scenery on our journey from Erzurum to Kayseri and we were very lucky to have a cabin to ourselves the whole way. On the downside we arrived in Kayseri at 4:15am. After sitting in the station waiting room for the sun to rise we set off for the otogar. Arriving at the spot [...]
The six hour bus journey from Doğubeyazıt to Erzurum took us past snow capped mountains and through a blizzard! We were expecting it to be cold but this was something else. We used our twenty four hours in Erzurum to explore the city and to eat two very good meals. One of Cağ kebab at [...]
A night in Doğubeyazıt gave us the chance to catch breath after Iran. We also took the opportunity to visit the impressive Ishak Pasha palace. Doğubeyazıt is a Kurdish town and it felt very different to Maku even though we’d only travelled around 50km. We enjoyed two good meals in Doğubeyazıt. Finding something tasty to [...]
The journey from Tabriz to Maku was very scenic. We first passed snow capped mountains then rolling hills decorated with flocks of sheep their shepherds and sheep dogs in tow. As we approached Maku the landscape became more rocky and we crossed a deep narrow gorge with a river flowing through it. Maku itself is [...]
Arriving in Tabriz by train from Tehran the two men with whom we had shared a cabin insisted on showing us to our hotel themselves. On arrival at the hotel they demand that the manager charged us the correct rate and not the rate he’d quoted Rhian on the phone. After a breakfast of yoghurt [...]
Our first full day in Tehran was a Friday, the Iranian weekend. As a number of the sights we’d planned to see were closed we decided to join the Tehranis on a walk in the foothills of the Alborz mountains above Darband. We enjoyed the fresh air and mountain scenery but yet again it was [...]
Kashan on the edge of the Dasht-e Kavir, provided us with a day and a half of distractions on our way from Esfahan to Tehran. We took in the wonderfully restored traditional houses and the beautiful Hammam-e Sultan Mir Ahmad, explored the bazaar and chartered a taxi to visit the village of Abyaneh. The biggest [...]
The beautiful city of Esfahan was where we were to spend our first wedding anniversary. We were truly blown away by the place. The stunning Naqsh-e Jahan square with its beautiful palace and mosques was one of the most impressive places we’d visited so far on our trip. Our anniversary was spent Naqsh-e Jahan square [...]
The journey from Shiraz to Yazd passed through some incredible desert scenary and as we crossed the Zargos mountains we were treated to a vista of snow-capped peaks. The city of Yazd was like no other we had visited on our trip so far. The amazing adobe architecture of the old city gave the narrow [...]
Our first task after checking into our hotel in Shiraz was to purchase a manteau for me. At Sharjah I had changed into one of Matthew’s shirts in order to adhere to Iran’s laws regarding how women should dress in public. Finding a manteau was no problem. The lady at our hotel pointed us in [...]
