(14) Shiraz, Persepolis, the south of Iran and... how to reach India?

20 January 2013 - 3 February 2013, Persepolis, Shiraz, Bandar-e-Abbas, Iran

Persepolis

Few hundred kilometres south from Isfahan lie Persepolis and Shiraz, my next destinations. By nearing the Persian gulf the weather became milder and I could say goodbye to winter at the end of January.

On 20 January I left Isfahan for Persepolis and Shiraz where I was hosted for almost a week by a young architect who invited me and other travellers at his place through couch-surfing. 

After enjoying the city of the famous poet Hafez - who is a kind of national hero in Iran - I headed to the southern port-city of Bandar-e-Abbas on the Persian gulf.

In Shiraz I applied – in a office together with many Afghans - for an extension of the visa until March.

Notwithstanding the visa extension, I felt it was time to move on and to leave this wonderful country. 

The idea was to keep on with the overland travel. With my visa for India ready in the passport and some experiences planned to do there, the next destination was clear. Travelling from Iran to India however is not an easy task. In the past it was an important trade route - the Silk Road - and during the 60's-70's many young travellers used to journey from Europe to India along this route. However, current political and security conditions have changed and made it pretty a challenge.

I puzzled for a long time trying to understand the best option to reach India overland by avoiding Afghanistan. The following were the options to do so:

Trying to get rid of material attachments, I donated
my sunglasses to this kid in Bandar-e-Abbas

1 - Through Pakistan, i.e. through Pakistan. Travelling in this country is not as safe as Iran and hence needs some research beforehand on where, when and how to go.

Especially in the south-west area near the city of Quetta at the junction between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran the situation for travellers is not easy and it is said that local police escorts foreigners to preserve their security.

However, visa for Pakistan can be obtained only in your home country and the procedure is not easy. The Pakistani embassy in Teheran even refused to give me a temporary visa just to cross the country for few days so I had to give up this option.

2 - The second option is much longer: travelling through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgykistan, China, Tibet and Nepal. I had to renounce to this option because in winter this region is extremely cold, visa for some of these countries is rather complex and entering Tibet is not always easy.

3 - Hitching a boat from the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas or from Dubai (reachable via ferry from Iran) to Mumbay. After completing some research on the subject I realised that also this option was attempted by many travellers in the past but without success.

Hence, notwithstanding my motivation to travel overland, I took a ferry to Dubai from where I took off with a low-cost flight to New Delhi.

Persepolis

Shiraz

(13) Iranian Desert

12 - 14 January 2013, Farahzad, Dasht-e Kavir Desert, Iran

The floor where my body is laying is cold. Below is the soil of the desert. Here in the refuge the water from the tap has a strange salty-like taste. The refuge is built on a fertile land amid sand dunes in the Dasht-e Kavir - one of the Iranian deserts. In a place - up until recently - that lacked electricity.

Often I had wondered how the desert in winter could be. Here I found it out. The desert in Iran can become so cold that all the palms die – as it happened few years ago.

Difficulties in spelling my name!

This desert looks like a barren landscape with kilometers without any green plant at sight: only scattered rocks, dirty roads, and dried vegetation. And I find my self at the edge of this kind of desert. Near is the out-and-out desert: the one made of sandy dunes like the Sahara.

The small village of the refuge lies somewhere eastward from Isfahan and Yazd. Farahzad is a tiny settlement where all its residents belong to one extended family and make a living from agriculture and a budding tourism – mainly Iranian.

How did I wound up here?

After spending the first Iranian days in Urumye the second destination was Tabriz – the fifth biggest Iranian city - and then Teheran where I was hosted through Couchsurfing by a young couple who is on the brink of moving to Australia as they were lucky enough to win a visa to work and to establish in residence there.

Local lunch

For the second weekend of January Mohammad - a young Iranian Couchsurfer from Isfahan – invited me to go with him and a group of about thirty crazy young Iranians in the town of Khur, in the desert near Yazd and Nain. One of the nights there I slept outside in my tent with a freezing temperature of -5. The rest of the weekend I spent doing a full-immersion Iranian experience with them, visiting the nearby desert villages and trying to improve my basic knowledge of the Persian language.

After the weekend they returned to Isfahan and I decided to stick around in the desert some days longer. I passed these days with an interesting Iranian couple living there. They are of about my age and did not finish university but learned astronomy and the English language by themselves and make a living by manufacturing and selling small objects such as wallets, earrings and bracelets.

Here I could stargazing, walking in the desert and relaxing after the frenetic weekend and before heading to the ancient capital of Isfahan (see pictures below).

Sitting whilst looking at the Desert

Isfahan - Si-o-Seh Pol (33 Bridge) - on the dried up city river

Isfahan

Isfahan Main Square

(12) From Turkey to Iran through Doğubayazıt

17 December 2012 - 3 January 2013, Trabzon, Doğubayazıt and Iran

View of Trabzon from its hill

On 17 December I went to Trabzon, a clean and nice Turkish town facing the black sea, in order to apply for my Iranian visa. The Iranian consulate in Trabzon is well-known for issuing visa in only one day and without requiring any strange procedure as it usually happens at other Iranian consulates.

Ishak Pasha Palace, Dogubayazit

Visa to European citizens is usually granted easily – with some exceptions like British citizens. From time to time, however, the consulate needs to prove that visa is not given to everybody and thus small imperfections in the application or passport are sought. I had not known it until it happened to me: my application was rejected for a small procedural cavil.

Luckily, I had anyway planned to return home for Christmas and hence could apply for visa at the Iranian consulate of Milano, where the procedure is also rather easy and quick.

Ishak Pasha Palace at summer (source: internet)

On 19 December a plane from Trabzon brought me back home and on 26 December I flew back to the same town. It was like pausing the travel and resuming it from the point left: likewise a book closed on a certain page and reopened afterwards at the same point. Following one week of full-time family commitments, I restarted the travel with a different feeling: more motivated and recharged with new energy after the Christmas celebrations with my family and friends.

From Trabzon a night bus brought me to Doğubayazıt - in east Turkey - approximately forty kilometers before the Iranian border.

Contrasting to the mild weather of other parts of Turkey in this area - enveloped by mountains - winter is really freezing. I experienced in Igdir where a temperature of -14 degrees welcomed me in the early morning.

In Doğubayazıt I passed one day exploring the town and its surrounding imposing snowy mounts. A couple of hours of walking from town lies the beautiful Ishak Pasha Palace of the Ottoman-period whose construction was started in 1685 and completed in 1784.

The last day of 2012 I woke up in the early morning and started walking towards Iran. The melody of the chants played by the mosques, the chilling air made agreeable by a tepid sun and the sight of the white mounts perched on the clean blue sky made the experience not only venturesome but also picturesque.

Walking toward Iran

After a while I found my self on a deserted road with a Turkish military base running aside. Not feeling comfortable in being alone with armed soldiers who tried to talk to me I reached to the main road where I hitched a car of a frontier officer who brought me straight to the Iranian border.

As westerner at the Iranian border I was made skip the line and meet a special officer. A charming woman wearing the black chador checked my papers, advised me about Iran and was available to answer my questions. In short, she gave me a warm Iranian welcome. At the end I made the typical mistake of the dumb tourist as I tried to shake her hand and, of course, she could not do it.

Flag of Iran after the border

Finally, on 31 December at around lunch time I managed to enter Iran - just in time to escape the New Year's Celebration as Iran in fact does not celebrate it at all.

Once in Iran I reached the small town of Bazargan from where a bus brought me to Urumye, where I hoped to see its salty lake.

In Urumye in fact people are not Persian (Pars - likewise the majority of the country) but mainly Azeris - who are called Turks as their language is similar to Turkish - and Kurdish. Finally I could not see the lake – that is said to be almost completely dried out - and ended up passing my time with some Kurdish students who welcomed me at their place with the warmth of their region and with the typical enthusiasm for foreigners.

Dinner with Kurdish Students

Images of the leaders of the Islamic Republic