We have had the amazing luxury of travelling for seven (!) weeks through this amazing country with its incredible historical sights.
When in Tehran, we had to make the hard decision to deviate from our initial dream to visit the Stans. We put two and two together and realised it would be a very challenging situation due to weather conditions changing rapidly into winter, therefore road availability questionable, time and monies needed to obtain all required visas and (responsibility and loyalty kicking in) being on time in Abu Dhabi for Abu Dhabi Art beginning of November. Five weeks would not be enough to see all the five Stans, not even to see four, three, not even two (only Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), as upon our return we would have to cross Iran from north to south to take the ferry to the United Arab Emirates from Bandar Abbas and that would take at least three days flat out ONLY driving. We decided to spend far more time than initially planned, in Iran.
From Tehran we went into the mountains of Kelardascht, off-roading with 4x4Iran.com, a wonderful bunch. For the first time we used the low gears and revved up a hill, we had so much fun. Camping for the night with all 21 cars, creating a picnic with little bonfires everywhere, where so many were sharing the specially marinated kebabs and yogurt soup. A delightful experience resulting in new friends and even more confidence with our car. No roof rack was a must and we are very happy we decided to let it go in Tehran. (How we will get the two suitcases with stuff back to the UK only God knows;))!
From Kelardascht we went north to the Caspian sea road east, to beautiful places and well-kept secrets, even for Iranians. The pagan cemetery in the north-east near the Khalid Nabi shrine is a good example. Or the Mil-e Radkan near Kordkuy, absolutely gorgeous, passing through clouds going up the mountain to meet the sun again once above them.
Our next stop was Mashhad, where we visited the Haram-e razavi, or holy shrine, area. No cameras allowed, but “We cannot forbid people to talk to their family”, so a mobile phone can be taken in. And for women wearing a chador is obliged; it’s not enough to wear Islamic dress, i.e. a headscarf and manteau, no, the full cover is required which has nothing to do with Islam, nor the Qur’an. The question ‘Why?’ is in these cases the wrong question as nobody has an answer; and in Iran nobody ever questions anything. The city is financially wealthy and one of its expressions is to still extend the shrine area outward.
Neyshabur, the city of Omar Khayyam, great Iranian astronomer, philosopher, sufi, poet, who is best known around the world for his ‘rubayat’, was next. We visited the beautiful mausoleum. Peacefully situated in a garden, with his poetry read and sang in the background.
From here, passing the night at a service area cum fuel station cum truckers stop with mosque (and therefore also toilets), we headed for our preparation to cross the desert; dasht-e kavir , also known as kavir-e namak, Great Salt Desert. We arrived at Damghan in the morning to stock up on water, fruit and food as we had no idea what to expect on the road. Taking the ‘wrong’ road out of town, had us pass, to our delight, an ancient mosque made of adobe, a simple but beautiful building, Tarikhuneh mosque, with next to it a large minaret which had drawn our attention from a distance. A visit and browse around before we hit the road. Exciting… and in the end, it was just a very long road through flat land, the dasht-e kavir is not a sand desert, it starts as earth, there are hills, even scrubs so my image of ‘desert’ is slightly adjusted now, it has much of my image of steppe, where on the road you see the glow of the heat rise from the asphalt. At a stop on the way, we learn that two German cars had been stopped by the police recently to check their papers which had cost them two days (!) (loss on their visa as well) to remain in the middle of the desert. We were happy to arrive in Yazd towards the beginning of the evening.