7600 km Shiraz

Hi everyone,

It's been about a week already, so we figured we can write you all one more message from Iran. We left last week with a group of 5 cyclist. There we were hardly seeing any cyclists since Hungary and now we were suddenly cycling with a large group. It was a nice change and a good opportunity to share some experiences of the trips we all made. We left Esfahan, heading southeast towards Yazd. The first day we headed for a small village looking for a certain Mohamed Jaleli. Mohamed and his family have been accommodating cyclists and motorcyclists for several years already and had rang our hotel in Esfahan to ask if we could come and visit his home. The village Mohammed lives in is about 95 km from Esfahan and therefore suited very well for a one day trip. We left early morning and it was an easy day. Chatting among the 5 of us the hours flew past. Tjeerd took over the trailer from Andre, trying to feel what cycling like that is like. It certainly feels a lot harder moving up, on flat terrain it's quite doable and going down it feels like an extra push in the back. We have considered a trailer ourselves before leaving, but it seems we can manage to go without saving us some weight.

When we arrived in Toudeshk we had a very warm welcome. First we started of with some nice teas and not long after we received a great meal. It felt very relaxing just sitting there with a group of around 15 people and not needing to tell about your trip or experiences all the time. After all there was five of us now :) After the meal we headed of into town to get a shower at the local bathhouse. When we arrived Mohamed explained us how the wind towers, build adjacent to the bathhouse, were used to cool the water that was kept in a reservoir. It's quite an ingenious system and shows not only the dutch knew how to utilize windpower ;) When we entered we saw a small little pool with ice cold water in it and were fearing the worst. Luckily a door opened and another room with some really nice and decent showers was revealed. After a nice hot shower we all felt better and went back to the house for some more tea, a.k.a. chai as it seems to be called everywhere in the world after you leave Europe :)

During the tea we were told this family already received around 3000 ! guests in the last few years. In the beginning they even offered there guests free camel rides through the desert, but that became unaffordable for them. Its amazing that these people accommodate so many travellers without wanting anything in return. When we asked why this was all done, we were told that they would love to show other people what Iranian hospitality is all about. Furthermore he told us, he hopes to touch the heart of people and make people all over the world more aware of what Iran is really like. People here seem to be very conscious about how Iran is viewed in the West. By helping travellers he hopes the message will get accross to the west via communication (like this blog) that Iran is nothing to be feared about. Well we can only confirm what we have written on this blog before. Iran is truly an amazing country. People are without exception all very friendly to us. So everyone, don't believe the hype! This place is worth a visit!

For the next day we planned to head through the city of Na'in and hoped to get in reach for Yazd the next day. That was easier said then done, because our plans to have an early start fell apart when Mohamed wanted to show us a bit more of his city and also wanted us to meet some of his friends. In the end we managed to get on the bikes around 10.30 and headed off. Luckily we had hardly any climbing left to do and the wind was nice for a change as well. Up till here we only had headwind and it felt good to have a tailwind for a change. Around 5 p.m. we started looking around for a place to camp. We did not expect to find much here in the desert, but we were lucky enough to find a fantastic spot at a Caravan Serai, which is an ancient stop for the camel caravans. In this one they even had quite a few camels which only added to the atmosphere. We camped and made a nice meal with rice and tomatoes. Thanks for the cooking Andre!

The next day we had a bit of a challenge when we tried to reach Yazd in a single day. After some nice coffees and wishing John a very happy birthday we went off on the bikes. We gave John and the others some brand new Iranian bells for the bike and then headed off for Yazd. We were in luck with a good tailwind. we arrived in Yazd around 6.00 p.m. making this a very fast and easy day of about 145 km. The legs still felt good in the end, but the ears that was another story. We had all been using the bells like crazy, rewarding any truck that made a noise, with an overwhelming reply :devil: Furthermore we have lots of respect for Judith for making it all the way there that day, as we understood it was a new daily record for her.

In Yazd we found a really nice a laid back hotel were we could sleep on the roof for 20.000 rials. A bargain if you know 13.000 is about one euro. We had some delicious camel stew for dinner and relaxed a bit after a long day. The next day we woke up early from the mosque that kept on going for at least 90 minutes because of the end of Ramazan. So no more sneaking around with food anymore for us, we can eat and drink freely again :) Unfortunately we have not seen that much of the celebrations around Ramazan (suikerfeest). Its mainly a familyoriented celebration and we were not so lucky to invited somewhere for this. Still it's nice, not to worry about eating and drinking anymore. After a good breakfast that even included a coffee (a very rare thing here) we headed of to the Jameh Mosque and after that we had a look at the watermuseum, showing how Qanats (little canals to provide the city and surrounding farmlands of water) are made. The whole town is full off windtowers as we had seen in Toudeshk and almost all the buildings are created (or at least partially) created from mud, giving the whole place a very middle-eastern-feel to it. After the sightseeing in Yazd, we headed for the bus to Shiraz. Knowing we will be back in Yazd at least a day more later. Our flight is on the 19th already and cycling to Shiraz would be undoable with the time restrictions. It feels a bit like cheating, taking a bus, but all in all it was not so bad. We arrived in Shiraz saturdayevening and plan to leave tomorrow. So we have a full 3 days to spend here. Yesterday we had a good look around Shiraz admiring the Regent Mosque, strawling through the bazar and we've visited Hafez tomb. Hafez is Iran's most famous poet and a national hero here in Iran. His work and Saadi's are known by many Iranians and their works are said to be second most important after the Quran.

Today we went to Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid (Persian) empire. It's a truly magnificent display of how big this empire has actually been. Stretching from current Ethiopia to India. To bad Alexander the great could not resist and burned it to the ground (to do the Greeks a favour) Regardless it remains a very nice and well preserved site and it feels great walking around in a place that was home to Darius the Great, Xerses I and II and many others. In our bible (LP) it says it rivals the Pyramids of Giza in its greatness and we couldn't agree more. This place alone is probably worth the trip to Iran.

Well that's it for this update, tomorrow evening we are off for some more real heavy travelling: first a bus to Yazd, in the evening a train to Tehran. Then a flight to Bombay and finally a train or boat down to Goa. It almost sounds as if we've transformed into backpackers ;) , but no worries we'll get back on the bikes in India for sure!

We'll miss Iran but also look forward to all the new things we will encounter in India

All the best for now,
Erik and Tjeerd

some pictures can be found here:

http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa310/erikopdefiets/08%20Zanjan%20-%20Esfahan/

http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa310/erikopdefiets/09%20Esfahan%20-%20Yazd/

http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa310/erikopdefiets/10%20Yazd%20-%20Shiraz%20-%20Persepolis/