Blogs from Kermanshah, West, Iran, Middle East

What a difference a week makes! At about this time a week ago we were snorkelling in Kas, and lying in the sun. Today it is 1 degree Celsius. In the previous two days we rode about 1,000km, some of it above the snow line, and all of it bloody freezing. We are now in Dogubeyazit, almost at the Iranian border. The altitude here is about 1,700m, and the town is a dump. Still, in terms of ‘famous inhabitants’ Dogubeyazit holds its own, as Noah was supposed to have parked his boat just over the hill on Mt Ararat. On the subject of weather… Kas camping (14/10/11 – 23/10/11) After a week in Olympus we were getting a bit bored of ‘chilling’ in the tree houses with the ageing hippies, backpackers and curious Russian strays, so ... read more

The next day we had been told to be at breakfast at 6.30, early for me! While most of the women were there, none of the men were! Great door knockings and retributions ensued, though all fairly good natured! So we got off a bit later than planned, first stop Takht-e Bostan/ Taq-e Bostan, just outside Kermanshah. This site has three well preserved Sassanian bas-reliefs showing the crowning ceremonies of the rulers. The first shows the kings Ardashir I and Shapur I , Khusroe II is shown on a charger, looking like a medieval European knight, the horse is his favourite Shabdiz, whose name means ‘like the night’. The story goes that Khusroe loved his horse so much that he warned that whoever told the king of his death would be put to death himself. Years ... read more