7240 km Esfahan !

Hi everyone,

On the 30th we left Zanjan and headed of in the direction of Esfahan. Just outside of Zanjan (about 35 km) we stopped to have a look at the Sultaniyeh, which is apparently the largest brick dome in the world. It was a nice stop and definitely a nice dome to see. But as Tjeerd mentioned already in his comment it was almost entirely covered in scafolding which was a bit of a pity. Still it was definitely worth the stop. Sofar in Iran there have not been to many things to see, so our travels mainly consisted of cycling, cycling and more cycling. That is all changing though as we head into central Iran where many large ancient civilizations have ruled and left an impressive heritage. So on top of the good weather, nice nature and friendly people here, we can now do some sightseeing as well.

The first interesting stop was at Qom. Qom is the 2nd most religious city in Iran. You can still see many Mulahs on the street and the place is a bit stricter religiouswise then other parts of Iran. We visited the holy shrine o Hazrat-e Mazumeh which was impressive to see. Also we encountered the first pamphlets of political parties with nice little welcoming phrases as kill Israel, kill USA. It feels like an incredible contrast to all the nice people we have met sofar who don't seem to be anti Western at all. I suppose the ones that do hate the west, if they even exists, probably don't walk up to us to have a nice little chat :) But even in Qom we had a very warm welcome as we did everywhere else.

After Qom we headed on to Kashan. Again we took a highway. We just love cycling on those. Hardly any cars and trucks on there since everyone is using the parallel mainroades which are toll free. Only downside is we have to stock up with quite a bit of water and food since its quite common not to find any place to eat or drink for 100km or more. Since we never know this in advance, it's better to be safe then sorry and just drag a few extra kilo's with us. In Kashan we spent the afternoon walking through the local bazaar but we've seen so many of those now, it's hard to still be impressed by them. Damn, that sounds like we're spoiled doesn't it :) ? Another wortwhile attraction in the city of Kashan was the traditional houses and an ancient city wall. Unfortunately we could not enter one of the houses since it was closed. A picture from outside will have to do for us for now.

After Kashan it was only another 200 km to Esfahan. We headed of knowing we would probably have to camp somewhere, since there are no hotels or villages of significant size that would have sleeping facilities. We managed to cycle about 100 km on the first day and we climbed from about 900m to 1750m as well. Almost over the pass after which we would later find Esfahan. We stopped around sunset in a little village of which we have no clue where it was exactly or what is was called. We asked if we could set up our tent in the garden of someone and luckily that was no problem at all. Later that night we were served some nice tea and got a good opportunity to see what normal life is like for Iranians. The mother of the house was weaving here own Persian carpets. These were amazingly beautifull and it's clear a lot of hours go into making one of them. the next morning we were even offered a full breakfast and received food for travelling as well. It never stops to amaze us how generous these people are, especially if you consider most people are quite poor and really don't have that much to spare. It's a very humbling feeling and makes us realize how spoiled and materialistic we actually are in the west, were we would never encounter such generosity. After some teas we said goodbye to Vendik and his family and headed of for Esfahan.

Driving into Esfahan we stopped at a gasstation where we cooked some lunch. Hell, who cares for open flames at a gasstation ;) Well lots of illagal things were going on, since we witnessed some petrol being sold out of jerrycans instead of using the pump. It's 10 times more expensive, because Iranians have a limitation on how much petrol they can use in a month.

Well as you can see from the title of this message, needless to see we made it into Esfahan. Today is our third day in Esfahan already and though I know I'm getting repetitive here: it's absolutely beautiful :) We've been sightseeing here for the last three days and are taking a break from the cycling. We've visited the bazar which is by far the largest we have seen sofar and has a nice display of handicrafts. For example paintings on camelbone, (framed)carpets, metal figurines/paintings and pots. We've admired the Jameh mosque (friday mosque) and the big Imam Mosque on Imam Square. Imam Square is a huge square which offers a great view on the Imam Mosque as well as a palace and the entrance of the bazar. We've added some pictures for you all to see, since they tell it so much better then words would.

Yesterday we went to see the fairytale like bridges of Esfahan. Esfahan has 11 bridges of which 6 or 7 are very old and look like taken straight from the tales of 1001 nights. We managed to take some great shots exactly at sunset. Be prepared to get jealous when you see them ;) !

After 3 days we feel we have seen Esfahan and tomorrow we'll head of again. Our next destination is Yazd. We met up with some other cyclists here in Esfahan and will be joining them in a trip there. A German couple Judith and Andre who have cycled here from Germany (www.radeltrip.com) and John a cyclist who came from England. ( www.cyclingtoaustralia.blogspot.com) I can only wonder how big of a crowd we will gather with the five of us :) It will also be the last 300km we will cycle in Iran. From Yazd we plan to take the bus to Shiraz. Cycling there would be cutting into our sightseeing time to much since its 900-1000km back and forth (Shiraz has no train station, so no good way to get the bikes back to Tehran) and we need to be at the airport on the 18th again. It would be a shame to visit Iran and not see Persepolis and the city of Shiraz. So we'll be sitting in a bus for a change. It will be a nice opportunity to catch up on some reading. we especially love the "Iran Daily" newspaper, which we read as our daily comicbook, with the most amazing "news"

- Heroic marters killed by the Zionist occupational forces.
- Pension cut for woman in the UK, condemning the population to poverty

etc... etc... Well at least it seems the majority of Iranian people realize how their own news is created. Lets hope things will change for the better for the Iranian population soon

That's all for now folks, till the next update...

yours,
Erik and Tjeerd

p.s. after writing this message we discovered the photobucket website is blocked here. Therefore the pictures will have to wait. Sorry all, we'll try and upload them as soon as we have the oppurtunity