From Istanbul I got a bus to neighbouring Bulgaria, which meant that after 17 months I was officially back in Europe and politically too - Bulgaria, unlike Turkey is a fully fledged member of the European Union. Fellow travellers had told me that Bulgaria was ‘okay’, ‘alright’, ‘shit’, ‘corrupt’ and ‘alright, avoid Sofia’ and ‘watch your bags’. Posts on travel forums like the Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree had headings such as ‘Bulgaria - avoid, avoid, avoid!’. However as hard-boiled traveller Paul Theroux tells us, “all travel is a lesson in self-preservation” and I imagined Bulgaria to not be too different to everywhere else I’d been and I had prevailed so far. Besides I needed live music and was going there for that. I’d fallen upon the Spirit of Burgas music festival which was featuring dance pioneers ... read more

It was time to get out of Tbilisi and to explore the rest of the country; Saventi, a region in the north sounded great - home to unique and isolated villages set in the Caucasus Mountains and a chance to do some walking as well as see the hundreds of stone towers that were built between the 9th and 13th centuries to successfully keep invaders out. The problem was that it would take a whole day to get there (and by an expensive jeep) it just wasn’t worth it unless I was in a group of people to share the costs. My alternative was a straight journey north along the Georgian Military Highway to the town of Kazbegi and just a few kilometers away from the Russian border. Set in the Caucasus Mountains it would also ... read more

Hamadan Hamadan, was known in classical times as Ecbatana - the ancient capital of the Medes - and was once one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Nope, I'd not heard of it either! More often than not, travelling in Iran makes you shamefully aware of your own ignorance about things removed from that speck land at the end of the Eurasian land mass known as Europe. To a self-described history buff such as myself it is equally embarrassing and irritating to come across something such as Ecbatana for the first time and know absolutely nothing about it. Zilch. Heavy sighs for a classical education.... According to my LP guide book the ancient city of Ecbatana once had seven layers of walls - as long as classical Athens and two of which were coated ... read more

In the care of the kings of hospitality It is safe to say that my time in Bushehr had refreshed me; the warm hospitality; a clean environment; the unexpected social gatherings; time away from paid hotels, the dirt and concrete pillows and the unknown content/cleanliness of bedding. It was also a holiday away from my own ‘holiday’ the not-really-doing-anything in particular; the lack of any need to do ‘tourist’ stuff. It was great. But my visa was for a month only and I was already beyond the half way point, so regardless of the genuine (or not) invitations to stay longer I had to continue my journey north bound to the ‘deeply historic’ (Lonely Planet) city of Shushtar. But before I left, 'Fatima's' sister ‘Farahnaz’ surprised me by a farewell gift of an embroidered colourful ‘ ... read more

From the city of Kerman I got yet another bus westwards to the famous city of Shiraz. The Iranian chick I'd met in Esfahan had told me to meet her there and she would show me around. At the bus station I stood and stared at the coach. For some odd reason the bus had a Crystal Palace Football Club sticker on the back window; and this is by no means the sole occurrence of a mid-table English football club finding itself in Iran. I recently spotted a coach with hooligan- fantastic Millwall Football Club badge. Somehow the former team coaches of English football clubs have been sent to Iran - and I don't know why. I think that's why I've kept smiling. The journey took seven hours of winding roads through more of Iran's hot ... read more