Blogs from Tehran, North, Iran, Middle East - page 2

TEHRAN REST DAY 1. 6 September, 2016. Today is a rest day, however everyone is programmed to be up at 5 am, so the hotel restaurant was full of riders at 7am. Breakfast wasn't worth the effort. I am disappointed with the Iranian food I have eaten, only one good meal to date. Not as varied or as tasty as I was hoping! Today walked to the Tehran Bazaar, the oldest here, was expecting something like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Firstly it was difficult to find, they are constructing a train station in front of the entrance so wandered aimlessly for an hour, until finally finding an unassuming ally which I by chance walked down. The building contains numerous stalls, but is not remotely colourful or bustling and was under whelming. It was a long ... read more

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long and interesting history that goes back several thousand years. It has gone through various dynasties and was part of the famous silk road. This was home to the once mighty Persian Empire. In 1979, the Shah was overthrown, Iran became an Islamic republic, and as a result became polarized by many nations of the western world. Some might say that Iran does not respect human rights, and is fronted by religious zealots but it is also home to some of the friendliest people on the planet. One thing is certain, it would be an fascinating place for any traveler to get a glimpse. I was looking quite forward to it. I had been toying with visiting this country for a while, mainly based on feedback from other backpackers. ... read more

Day 30 Wednesday 17th February 2016 Organised ourselves, had breakfast, grabbed our bags and jumped into a taxi for the airport. Got there 3 hours before the flight as Fly Dubai Airlines suggests and then sat and did people watching. The terminal was packed with people some even having picnics on the floor, the flights in this terminal seem to be all the budget airlines flying to India, Pakistan, Sofia (Bulgaria) etc. One of the announcements was a final call for Iraqi Airways to Basra not something we hear in Australia. We had to get a bus out to the plane on the tarmac and were finally in the air for our short flight to Tehran about 2 hours, in a blink we were landing. As we joined the queue to get through passport ... read more

After 5 hours drive on the VIP bus from Esfahan, we are at the door of Tehran. Esfahan and Shiraz are gorgeous little provincial cities...Tehran is a monster, with anything between 13 to 18 millions inhabitants! The place is overcrowded with old cars, lots of them being french built, resulting in very bad pollution in winter time! That's due to the old cars...not the french side! Cities in Iran are mainly built on the slopes of mountains. This means amazing views from the cities themselves...but also that the pollution in winter cannot escape....resulting in pretty unbearable conditions for the capital of Tehran. So we took 5 hours to reach the outskirts of Tehran, and it took us two more hours just to reach the North bus station. Tehran is built on a slope. At the summit ... read more

Geo: 35.6962, 51.4229Off we go up the motorway…. I tried to go a little slower then the others however that just meant I caused a blockage and got honked a lot. (keep in mind it's a 3 lane motorway turned into a 5.5 lane motorway)So going slow is no good then speed up to match them… all was good and flowed nicely. I would stay in the slow lane and everyone was happy… however this also had its issues. Once a car had gone past and noticed our car it would slow down to have a look in the rear view mirror and thus they were not watching what was happening in front..really scary stuff… the scary part was everything was happening at 100~120kms per hour. And at that speed you need fast reflexes…Lisa was trying ... read more