Iran................

Mount Ararat - seen on the way to Iran

    






Mosque in the mountainside seen from the Ishakpasa Palace,
Dogubeyzit (Turkey).

Archie got us to the Turkish/Iranian border with no problems.  The whole border crossing was great fun and very easy.  Us 4 Brits were taken off to have our finger prints taken - nobody else - we were given special treatment but the reason is quite logical - the British government takes finger prints from Iranians so it is only fair.  We could not have arrived on a more auspicious day.  2nd April is Nature Day - a pre-Islamic festival, not entirely approved of by the Imams but so very much an Iranian celebration and part of life here.  Everybody, and I mean everybody was out in the fields, in parks, by the side of the road- anywhere there was a green space.  So there were tents dotted everywhere - families sitting around the tents eating, drinking (not alcohol), talking and some were dancing to celebrate the coming of Spring.  When we arrived at Tabriz (about 2000hrs) the festival was still in full swing.  We camped in a public park, putting up our tents and cooking our meal.  I felt very much that we were having our celebration of Spring as well.  People came and looked to see what we were doing and then the talk started.  Everyone was so open and sharing.  Soon there were jokes, discussions, sharing of ideas, learning about people's lives and what they do. And this is what I am finding everywhere we go.  One young woman introduced herself in English and we met her friends they let us use the loo before them - afterwards she brought her family to see us when we were cooking the evening meal.  You should have seen the look of pride on her father's face as she spoke to us so fluently and with such confidence.  Afterwards she admitted that this was the first time that she had ever spoken English to English speakers.  You would not have believed it from the way that she was communicating.

We are now in Esfahan - a beautiful city - full of wonderful breathtaking Mosques.  Even though it is a huge city people still stop us in the street and ask were we are from and what we are doing.  Yesterday I was out with my room mate and we had a fascintating conversation with a young woman and her mother - part in English with the odd German word thrown in and a lot of sign language.  As we were 2 older women we got straight into the women's stuff and learned a great deal about how people live and what they think. 

We also had a whistle stop tour of the city - in a minibus - somehow our driver got us to the various places without incident as there was no tread on the tyres and he only stopped at red lights if there were cars in front and one way streets were just to be driven along.  I knew that the Imam Mosque on the central square was superb but nothing prepared me for the enveloping beauty of the tile work.  I was so moved by the utter beauty of it that I cried.  Next was the Sheik Lotfollah Mosque which was the Hareem Mosque for the women of the Ali Qapu Palace opposite.  Compared with the Imam Mosque it is almost quiet and understated but has a very gentle atmosphere and lovely decorations.  The Palace was totally decorated, almost every space was painted.  The Music Room has some extradordinary shapes cut into the walls which have an accoustic effect in that when music was played it could be heard all over the Palace.  (I have taken some photos of that but as yet I have not yet worked out how to upload to the intenet.) 

Esfahan



Sheik Iman Mosque and Iman Square



Sheik Lotfollah Mosque across Iman Square from the Ali Qapu Palace.

While in the Ali Qapu Palace itself the shapes that make
 the accoustics all over the palace......... and .......

..... murals ..............

.... murals .....................

...... and murals ......................



..... andevery surface painted ...............

.... or plasterwork ................

........... and  straight from the Arabian Nights hidden behind this latticed window
a sloe-eyed woman may look out to see if her lover is on his way! 

These visits were completed by a delicious meal in a traditional Persian restaraunt complete with low carpet covered tables and cushions.  We sat on and ate from the tables - complete with plastic tablecloth - thank goodness!!!!  The food was great - we shared a dish of aubergines with yoghurt and spices, chicken and lamb grills and a stew of chicken and beans in a clay pot, which was drained and pounded up in front of us.  The drained gravy was used a dip.  There was also a yoghurt drink - I seemed to be the only one who liked it.  Yet the more I drank the jug was still half full - so maybe it was an Arabian Nights trick!

THE RESTAURANT WHERE WE ATE



This is one of the portraits of the poets which lined the walls.



More of the glorious decorations ................



... all spangly with mirror glass - just up my street!



We prepare to eat ...............



now you see it.................



... and now you don't!

Being in Iran has been and eye opener.  I must admit that I am not happy about the "mantor" I have had to wear (long black coat) and find the headscarf very hot but now I am in Esfahan I can be a little bit more relaxed about what I can wear but apart from that personal and very Western gripe, I have found being here a joy.  It is so very different from the appalling press that Iran gets in the West and it is not like that at all.  The people are warm and welcoming.  One of the places we visited - the Ali Sadr Caves, longest underwater caves in the world full of stalagtites/mites - an old man came up and talked to us - we did not understand what he was saying and likewise from him - but when the translation came it was that he wanted to invite us back to his house for sweets and he did not look as if he had enough to rub two sweets together.  And that is what we are experiencing on a daily basis. 

Archie (our truck) has been naughty again (needed a quick A&E on the way out of the Ali Sadr Caves!) but as far as I can gather has been in hopsital in Esfahan for a complete change of whatever and now Archie is on the way to recovery and should take us to Beijing without too much further bother or need for roadside operations!

I cannot begin to describe the things that I am seeing but here are a few of the jottings I am making as I go along:

• Layer upon layer of rugged snow covered mountains - volcanic, capped with puffy clouds.
• Blue valley, really hazy, mackerel sky, heat rising from the valey.
• 1 huge snow capped volcano surrounded by fumatories in layers
• Fields of snow growing on the mountain sides
• Mountains iced like a wedding cake
• Unscheduled stop so that the Queenslanders can feel snow for the first time.
• Rocks coming out of the earth in ripples, hills like meringues.
• A fox rootling by the road - dismissive of passing traffic.

Another day in Goreme...........

Archie has been up to no good - so an extra day.  This morning I went with one of the Australian couples with a guide to walk the extraordinary landscape I saw from the balloon.  The place we were heading for is called the Rose Valley - not for the amount of roses that grow there but because of the rose coloured rock in the valley.  All around the Rose Valley the rocks are buff coloured but the Rose Valley truly stands out because of the beautiful pink coloured rock so different from the surrounding landscape.   It was an eyeopener to be walking in it rather than flying over it.  The soil was very sandy (ground up pumice I suppose) and some of the cone shaped rocks had pigeon lofts carved into them.  In fact it is not right to say that they are cone shaped, some are, but others are so phallic that I have been discussing this with one of my fellow travellers that they really look as if they have been deliberately shaped then erosion over the centuries has done the rest.  This seems a reasonable surmise because if these phallic shaped rocks then have rooms or a dwelling or possibly a sacred space carved inside them then there is the male/female principle in one rock.  Also what leads me to suggest this is that this whole area is obviously a very special area and could well be a sacred landscape.  There are so many rock churches and certainly the whole area was of deep spiritual significance to the early Christians, who used to build their churches on previous sacred  sites.  So to me this seems to be a logical explanation of these very individual and strange shaped rocks.  While in the Rose Valley we stopped to look at another rock church- this time with beautiful blue frescoes on the walls.  Most unfortunately defaced but the face of Christ was still distinguishable as were some of the higher paintings.  The walking was quite hard as a lot of ups and downs so when we got back to Goreme it was great to go to the Haman (Turkish baths) again.  This time we got the star treatment.  One of my fellow walkers (female) came with to the baths.  When we got in there it was mixed - men and women - but half way through a wonderful soap sud massage I heard some talking and then there was a distinct change in the energy and I realised that there were only women in the baths - myself, my fellow companion and our bath attendants/masseuse. Apparently they had asked a male client to leave!!!  So after a wonderfully relaxing Turkish bath we made our way back to the pension and now I am waiting to have my supper cooked for me by somebody else.

Goreme Landscapes

ROSE VALLEY WALK

These are some of the images that I took of our walk.

 

Leaving Goreme




 



Finding this little iris was a joy and delight



More of the strange rock formations



Entrance to one of the rock churches



Rock churches

 

Typical landscape - the colour was pinker

 

The Rose Valley

 


The castle at Uchisar on the skyline



Rock formations on the way back to Goreme



Goreme

A double Volkswagen

A cart to drive away in...............

Again it is taking ages to get on to the Internet.  I dread to think what will happen when we reach China - if I can use Google there by then.  As I write the muezzin is calling the faithful to prayer.  I usually sleep through it in the mornings now but in the hostel in Istanbul it was lovely to be woken up about 04:20 to the call and to roll back over and know there were a few more hours to go.  We are a sort of international group.  At Istanbul I thought that I was going to be the "token Pom" but it turns out that there are 4 of us, a Canadian, a German, and Irishman and the rest are Australians!  Our drivers are Kiwis so as things go quite international. 

The first morning our truck Archie was really not very well so we did not make the intended 05:00 start but left about an hour later.  We had had a couple of meals together before leaving on Friday so I nearly knew every body's name.  Then the journey started.  There was a "little moment" for me when we crossed the Bosporus in the early morning sunlight.  Istanbul went on for miles.  I was sitting at the table seat for that part of the journey so could have taken photos but did not at that point.  There seems to be a massive development programme going on in Turkey- the amount of new buildings is phenomenal.  One building caught my eye as we left - a tall apartment building in a soft terracotta - the balconies were set in a circle all the way up the building surrounded by stainless steel edging.  It looked so elegant and a perfect bit of design.  Ankara was even more built up-  all around the edge of the city there are blocks of tall apartment buildings/houses - either unfinished or empty.  Going round nearly 3/4 of the way round Ankara on the orbital motorway it was incredible to see so many of these plots of either empty or unfinished buildings.  They were all in the stage of development that they did not have the local Mosque nearby which is an indication that they were not inhabited.   The journey took the whole day from about 14 hours including pee breaks and a lunch stop. 

Goreme has to be seen to be believed.  It is a town in Cappadocia which has a long history of spiritual settlement.  Firstly there are outcrops of strange phallic shaped rocks and some of them are inhabited.  Looking at some of them I really feel that they have been fashioned to really emphasise the shape and if they can be dug into and made into habitations there is the male/female principle in one go.  What put me on to this is the extraordinary amount of very early Christian churches carved out of the rock further up the valley.  Cappdocia has links with the very early church, both St. George and St. John come from here as well as numerous others.  The paintings in the rock churches are magic, some of them the designs are very simple patterns and the cross in a circle  in red ochre, but in others the walls are alive with brightly coloured frescoes depicting  stories of saints, new testament stories and the life of Christ.  The churches are not big and there are so many of them in such a small area that there must have been a significant population to come to the churches.

The first morning in Goreme we went on a balloon flight - magic was not the word.  The extraordinary volcanic/larval landscape seen from above is truly awesome.  The twists and turns of the valleys; the striated layers of rock in different shades of pale sand to pale pink; every so often in the neck of a valley or on top of a hill are small vineyards with low vines in sandy soil.  The grass is very brownish green at the moment as it has been very dry although there was a light rain first thing this morning (Monday). 

The sun is warm and a bit like an early summer day (for UK though excluding the last 3 summers!) and pleasantly warm in the sun though it can be chilly in the shade and gets distinctly cold at night.  We will be camping in a couple of days time and we are promised SNOW as well as rain.  Archie is still ill and had to go to hospital this morning, though Dion our driver is a very competent mechanic as well as many other skills but if the worst comes to the worst we all get out and push!  

We had a wonderful meal last night at a carpet shop with a great deal of useful information about carpets - and guess what I have bought a carpet!  I looked at one last night- loved it but needed to sleep on it to truly make up my mind.  This morning I went down to say "no, I did not need it" and was with another of us buying a carpet and I fell in love with the one that he did not want. 

I think that this is enough for the moment- I am sure I have left out so much but there is so much going on it is hard to remember it all to put it down and I have not got my diary with me.  Best wishes to all, SuzieD

BALLOONING ABOVE GOREME

 

The "BIG PUFF"



Getting bigger

Shall we dance?

UP WE GO! 

Some balloons get away before us

A "basket" case

Swooping over towns

Getting higher



And flying over people's vineyards

We are not alone

For some the flight is over...

... but for the moment we are still aloft

Our shadow flight  

ROCK CHURCHES IN GOREME

BUYING A CARPET IN GOREME



Boiling up the dyes



"Ali Baba" shows how to dip the wool



"Ali Baba" shows more secrets



We are wined and dined

 

"In situ" and very much at home!