Emily is 21 today
Early this morning the others in the room had the television on trying to figure out from the Iranian news what the football scores were in the UK matches. I do not think they found out anything useful! Some of the other managed to get fresh bread for breakfast, straight out of the oven and too hot to handle. When hot the bread is very nice, when cold it would taste like a bath mat if I was to eat one.
We left Masuleh at 0800 hours and travelled until 1730 hours heading towards Isfahan in south eastern Iran via routes 49S, 35S and 1S(M). The motorway signs were as in Europe though there were cars and lorries parked on the motorway and service stations as we know them did not exist. They did have fuel stations and lay-bys but these were straight off the road as normal. At least on the motorway there were no speed bumps, thankfully, with the maximum speed of 120 kph! After leaving the mountains the country opened to dry arid scrub land then olive plantations as this part of the country, Gabbar (and Shiraz), are the major olive growing areas in Iran. We passed a large dam with a hydroelectric station on the outlet and round the side of the dam were hundreds of wind turbines. The area around the lake and near Gadbar is known as a very windy area and has been made use of. Partly alongside and on the other side of the valley to the motorway another road was being built. This was a huge construction project with many tunnels and huge cuttings in major rock formations. On every road there were stalls with loads of melons, fruit, vegetables and huge piles of garlic for sale.
Views when travelling shown below :
We pulled off the road near Tafreeh and camped on an old bit of land. There were white and black mulberry trees there so I had myself a feast of them while few of the others in the group would eat them. They missed out as far as I was concerned as mulberries are a lovely fruit to eat. Because the fruit was falling off the trees there were a lot of big black ants around so care had to be taken where to put my tent. I must have picked the right spot as there were no ants in my tent during the night.
There was a little party for Emily’s birthday with the toast being in water, tea, coffee or soft drinks. We are in Iran after all where alcohol is banned.
The following morning we travelled for about four hours before arriving in Isfahan the home of our guide, Muhammad. Most of the countryside on the way there was flat scrub grass plains with rocky outcrops between the hills with very little evidence of rivers or water. It was a very dry and hot journey with the scenery not changing until getting closer to Isfahan when it became greener and the city itself was greened with plenty of trees and grass. So far it looks to be a clean city as well with little evidence of rubbish in the streets.
I have already been asked if I am a cleric and a Muslim. After being told ‘Welcome to Iran’ it was suggested that one day I might want to become a Muslim. I am not going to cut off my beard!!
Derrick and I went out to eat in the evening and found a local cafe where we had local food. Not that I know what we ate as an Iranian man there ordered for us as he spoke some English then left us to eat the lovely food. Afterwards we went to the bazaar where the standard of the different crafts was overwhelming. Between the gold, silver, copper and needlework items for sale and the standard of the workmanship I could have bought a lot of things but have no space to carry things on the truck safely and no room on the walls at home to hang the items.
The bazaar in Isfahan embroidered pictures and people in the bazaar shown below.
Early this morning the others in the room had the television on trying to figure out from the Iranian news what the football scores were in the UK matches. I do not think they found out anything useful! Some of the other managed to get fresh bread for breakfast, straight out of the oven and too hot to handle. When hot the bread is very nice, when cold it would taste like a bath mat if I was to eat one.
We left Masuleh at 0800 hours and travelled until 1730 hours heading towards Isfahan in south eastern Iran via routes 49S, 35S and 1S(M). The motorway signs were as in Europe though there were cars and lorries parked on the motorway and service stations as we know them did not exist. They did have fuel stations and lay-bys but these were straight off the road as normal. At least on the motorway there were no speed bumps, thankfully, with the maximum speed of 120 kph! After leaving the mountains the country opened to dry arid scrub land then olive plantations as this part of the country, Gabbar (and Shiraz), are the major olive growing areas in Iran. We passed a large dam with a hydroelectric station on the outlet and round the side of the dam were hundreds of wind turbines. The area around the lake and near Gadbar is known as a very windy area and has been made use of. Partly alongside and on the other side of the valley to the motorway another road was being built. This was a huge construction project with many tunnels and huge cuttings in major rock formations. On every road there were stalls with loads of melons, fruit, vegetables and huge piles of garlic for sale.
Views when travelling shown below :
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| Seen outside a cafe-I do not know why |
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| Mosque |
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| Hydroelectric station |
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| The countryside |
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| Road sign |
We pulled off the road near Tafreeh and camped on an old bit of land. There were white and black mulberry trees there so I had myself a feast of them while few of the others in the group would eat them. They missed out as far as I was concerned as mulberries are a lovely fruit to eat. Because the fruit was falling off the trees there were a lot of big black ants around so care had to be taken where to put my tent. I must have picked the right spot as there were no ants in my tent during the night.
There was a little party for Emily’s birthday with the toast being in water, tea, coffee or soft drinks. We are in Iran after all where alcohol is banned.
The following morning we travelled for about four hours before arriving in Isfahan the home of our guide, Muhammad. Most of the countryside on the way there was flat scrub grass plains with rocky outcrops between the hills with very little evidence of rivers or water. It was a very dry and hot journey with the scenery not changing until getting closer to Isfahan when it became greener and the city itself was greened with plenty of trees and grass. So far it looks to be a clean city as well with little evidence of rubbish in the streets.
I have already been asked if I am a cleric and a Muslim. After being told ‘Welcome to Iran’ it was suggested that one day I might want to become a Muslim. I am not going to cut off my beard!!
Derrick and I went out to eat in the evening and found a local cafe where we had local food. Not that I know what we ate as an Iranian man there ordered for us as he spoke some English then left us to eat the lovely food. Afterwards we went to the bazaar where the standard of the different crafts was overwhelming. Between the gold, silver, copper and needlework items for sale and the standard of the workmanship I could have bought a lot of things but have no space to carry things on the truck safely and no room on the walls at home to hang the items.
The bazaar in Isfahan embroidered pictures and people in the bazaar shown below.
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