Day 44-50 Iran I

We crossed the border to Iran on 20th of December at Bazargan. We finished all papers to leave turkey and waited in front of an iron gate. The gate opened and gave view on a yard with a building to the left. From a poster on the wall, Ayathollah Khomeni looked at us with a grim face. But this shall be the only bad impression in the first days in Iran. Instead, we experienced an outstanding hospitality towards strangers.
We passed the gate and a soldier appeared  He checked my passport, smiled, shaked my hand and said "Welcome to Iran". What a great start so far! Of course, to get the final entrance permission and all stamps costed us more time and 5$ for an "adviser" but in the end, it was easier than expected.
Anyway, we spend half a day at the border and after three hours of driving, we stopped in a little village called "Hacilar". As there was no restaurant, i decided to heat up some canned food. While preparing my gas cooker, two cars stopped and asked us me in Farsi if we need a place to stay or food. With hand and feet, I told them that we will stay in the car but a restaurant would be nice. The man did not hesitate and drove with me to the next city. There he ordered takeaway-food for me, refused any money, payed for me and even showed me the way back.

Unbelievable!

Me just being happy about the great welcome in Iran

But it got even better. Back in Hacilar, we ate our dinner, when the owner of the house we parked in front approached to us. I expected him to want us to leave. But instead, he said it is way too cold outside and invited us to stay in his house for the night. As it was -14°C, we accepted his offer. The Iranian people celebrated "Yalda" this night. It is a celebration of the days getting longer and the dark gets defeats by the light.
Also because of Yalda, a lot of relatives were called and soon, we sat among a huge family, enjoying sweets and tried to make some conversations. Its was just an great night, and in the morning, they helped us changing money and buying food and SIM-Cards for our phones.

Having a great Yalda

Getting ready for bed

We drove on to Tabriz, where we met Hardi from Couchsurfing and his Cousin Ali. The next day we visited the bazaar of Tabriz. As the bazaar of Aleppo has been destroyed, the one in Tabriz is said to be the biggest in the world. It shall have more than 5000 shops on 25km of ways. I could not determine whether this is right or wrong as I lost orientation pretty quick. Our friend Ali owns a shop for used nomadic products and he teached us a lot about carpets and carpet making. I really enjoyed the time with him as he is an amazing  person: kind and decent towards everyone without any prejudges.

The carpet market of the bazaar

Hardi, Ali and Ben (from the left to the right) in Alis shop

Spices and fruits everywhere

Sorrily, i got a little ill. Maybe I ate something wrong. My stomach made some troubles and continued to do so until second day of Christmas. Ali took cared for me heartwarming.
Two days later, we left Tabriz for Kandovan. The city resembles Göreme in Turkey but the people really life in their rock-/stonehouses up to the present day.

Kandovans rock cut houses

The same day, we reached Urmia. We spent Christmas in a hotel and i could recover and get well. Thank you for your patience, Ben.

Christmas dinner: I was still a little sick, but at least well dressed

After one week in Iran, first things can be stated... the Iranians are usually very good educated. Way more people speak english compared to Turkey. And the traffic is even worse than Albania.  Therefore, the hospitality is better then i ever experienced. Absolutely amazing.

Day 37-43: Turkey II

Lenard accompanied me on my journey to the East. We drove to Samsun where Ben joined us again to visit the Black Sea Coast. To be honest, I was disappointed about the Black Sea. Maybe because of the December weather giving a grim impression, maybe because of the great time in Istanbul but most certainly because of the highway along the coast, there was no natural beauty for me.

 

 

  

Considered as one of the touristic hot spots of Turkey, all the beaches are wasted because the 4-lane highway is never more than 100 meters away and keeps the traffic noise on a constant level. What a mess! Furthermore, a lot of the beaches were covered with trash. You can describe it as dreary.

And finally, a lot of the people didn't like strangers... especially Germans. I had to discuss for one hour until a shop sold me snow chains. Before, any business was refused with the words "Merkel problem".

But I had a good time anyway as we met some wonder full people and nice places too, further away from the sea. For example, visiting the Monastery Sumela feels like a winter fairy tale. We couldn't visit the place itself due to construction works. Anyway, I was too busy with enjoying the scenary to be disappointed.

The beautiful view on the way to Sumela Monastery, which was build in the 4th century

And there are Khaled and Abdullah in Rize. Both are Egyptian students studying in Turkey. They did not avoid any effort to find a shower for us. As we were not allowed to enter their students dorm and hotels insisted to be payed the full price of a room for one shower, they brought us to an Imam school up in the hills. There we met Imam Ibrahim and his friends.

He offered an amazing hospitality. We could shower and had a wonder full evening in this multi-cultural gathering. The mixture of Muslims and Christians, Turkish, Kurdish, Egyptian an German people was delighting.

In Ayder, we found a winter wonder land, similar to the alps in Austria. Muhammet offered us to sleep in his warm cafe and we had a lot of fun with his friends. The best experience was the sledge ride towed by an old Land Rover with a maniac driver. In the morning, we visited the hot springs. Being the only visitors in the hot water, it was pure joy to forget the cold winter outside.

Thank you very much, Khaled, Abdullah and Muhammet.

Ayder: Snow like in the Alps

At the most eastern side of the Turkish Black Sea coast, we wanted to enter Georgia for one day but the traffic jam in front of the border dismissed our plans.

We drove on to Kars because Lenard needed to get his flight back to Istanbul. The way to Kars led trough an icy desert. The temperatures far below zero and nothing but white mountains, it was monotone but impressive at the same time.

In Kars, we got hosted by Mustafa. I think he may saved hour lives as his apartment was warm while the temperature outside reached -30°C in the night. At midnight, I started my car and let it warm up again as i feared a damage from the cold. Thank you for this advice Mustafa! You saved my engine. In the morning, the car started at -24°C after 30 seconds, pedal to the metal and with black smoke suitable for a steam locomotive. I'm in love my Land Cruiser.

Lenard and I said good bye at Kars Airport and I drove to Dogubayazit, the last Turkish city before reaching the Iranian border.

Day 30-36 Turkey I

I crossed the border to Turkey without any complications and followed the highway in eastern direction.
Istanbul welcomed me according to all the typical prejudges. I was in a traffic jam for half an hour until i reached a traffic sign that announced the outskirts of Istanbul. Not considering the change in the time zone, I arrived perfectly for the rush hour. The remaining 40km to my destination took me 3 more hours. Uff.
Finally I reached the shared flat of Lenard in Kardiköy. Lenard (yes, the name is similar) is a friend from my bachelor studies. During his master studies, he does one semester abroad and lives together with Mustafa. Mustafa is a super nice guy, studying engineering.
All three together, we explored the city in the next days and i found a good friend in Mustafa. He did an excellent job showing me the beauty of Istanbul and I fell in love with the city. Thank you so much!

The famous blue mosque Sultan Ahmed

Galata Tower

Mustafa, Lenard and me (from the left to the right)

The mixture of the different districts, each with a unique character, is astonishing. All the important central areas can be reached by public transport ships crossing the Bosporus. 

This somehow resembles Venice, but provides a more authentic feeling. Of course, there are the crowded touristic places too as the blue mosque (it is called "Sultan Ahmed" here) and the Hagia Sophia, but there are also a lot of less famous places as "Valide Han". It is kind of an old  bazaar. Apart of some old workshops, all the other shops are closed. The true beauty is revealed on the crumbly unsecured rooftop, which offers an amazing view on the area around the Galata Tower, especially during sunset. In a hidden corner, you can even find an old weaving machine left behind.

Valide Han

Forgotten weaving machine

Street art is everywhere... in Kardiköy too.

Istanbul has so many faces. There are traditional things as the tea culture, which I admire a lot. They have street art and especially in Kardiköy, you can find good bars to have a great party.

But some bad things happened too. We passed the Vodafone Arena only 5 hours before the bomb exploded at the 10th December. It is a really sad story but in the next day the Istanbul people kept going like nothing happened. I was very impressed by their strong will and courage.