kirstent

After a night in Jerez which included a fantastic flamenco display we made out way to Tarifa to catch the ferry across to Tangiers in Morocco. We missed the 11am ferry by about 2 minutes due to traffic on the road so had another two hours in Tarifa that we had not planned. Tarifa is a lovely little town sitting on the coast. During the summer it is full of British tourists but it was pretty much closed up for the season. We had a good ferry crossing and landed in Tangiers. From there it was a couple of hours in a mini bus to Chefchouen. It was good to move away from the normality of Europe and on into Africa where things are not so predictable. (That is my perspective anyway ... for most of ... read more

I left Istanbul on the 24th and flew to Barcelona. It was sad to finish up on the overland trip and head into more mainstream tourism. I have been here for a couple of days now getting back into my artistic roots. I came here to see Gaudi and it has been great having a look at the places that I have seen in books. Today I went to the Picasso Museum which I loved. As you can see the sun was out and real T-Shirt weather. Went to visit the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 games as well as the Olympic Museum and just generally cruised around. All very relaxed. From Barcelona I caught the train across to Madrid - all very easy. It took about 3hrs to get into the middle of the country. ... read more

After Esfahan we headed to Tabriz. This was basically a rest stop before making the border crossing into Turkey. It took us just over 4hrs to get to the border and then about another 2hrs leaving the Iranian border and entering Turkey. As far as border crossings go that was a good one! As soon as we entered the Turkish side = scarves were off, coats off and we went and bought an ice cold Efeas - the local beer. We drove into Dogybaizit for the night and it was quite obvious that we were in Kurdistan - the locals introduced themselves as Kurdish people rather than Turkish. I had been in Dogy 11 years before. Not much had changed. Mt Ararat was off in the distance. The palace was being renovated so we couldn't get ... read more

Well we are now in Tehran. We camped one night after crossing the border from Turkmenistan and then had an 18 hr drive to get into Tehran the following day. Tehran has been great - a very modern city where we visited the Palace, the "Den of Espionage' (the old US Embassy), the National Museum and the Jewels Museum - really enjoyed it all. We boutght black cotton in Ashgabat and borrowed long shirts from the boys to make our way over the border. Since then we have bought black headscarves and mantous (thigh length coats) to get around in. Some women are still wearing chadoors (especially in some of the small towns we visited on the way) but here in Tehran that mantous are the go (but still pretty hot). Tomorrow we head for Yadz ... read more

We are now in Bukhara.... another awesome place in Uzbekistan. We had city tour yesterday and cruised around the sites. Visited the Ismail Samanid Mausoleum a 10th C Mausoleum for Ismail Samani who both the Uzbeks and the Turkmen hold in high esteem as hereos of their country. The terracotta brickwork has features from Zorastrian, Buddhism as well as Islam. The Turkmen want to relocate the tomb to Ashgabat. . . according to our Uzbek guide! The tomb was buried under sand to protect it from the Mongols and later the Russians. We also visited the Ark = 5th C to 1920s when it was bombed by the red army. We visited the Many Medressa of the city, the Death Tower, the Prison and the Chasma=Ayub Mausoleum built in the 12thC over a natural spring which ... read more