November 19^th 2022

Agarak, Armenia – Marand, Iran

Miles: 90 (150km)

Miles total: 13’350 (21’490km)

We spent a quiet night. A few hundred yards (meters) from the border and 3 feet (1m) from the barbed wire fence separating Samuel's hostel from a military training ground. We say goodbye and head for the Iranian border at around 10.30AM. Hopefully our gearbox doesn't break in no man's land!

Border crossing:

It's pure chaos. Besides us and an expensive BMW, only trucks can be seen. We squeeze through, drive ahead of everyone and come to the first post. A Russian guy, and not an Armenian person, checks our passports and our Iran visa before he lets us continue. And again, there are only commercial trucks around. We have no idea where to go. We park our car at the first real building, go in and ask ourselves where to go next. Here, only our customs import document for the Iveco is processed and a first short vehicle search takes place (the expensive BMW is searched much more intensively than our car :-) ). Now, we continue to the next small building. Incidentally, there is still chaos and you get the feeling that nothing is really organized. Here, the passports are checked and stamped. By the way, my (Stefan) passport is examined with a magnifying glass. The car is quickly checked again and we are asked if we have alcohol with us. Why the Armenians are asking us this is not entirely clear. The exit procedure took 1H10Min. We drive over the bridge and the border river and enter Iranian territory. Now comes the trickier part, immigration. On this side, the unsystematic and chaotic goings on. We park the car at the first small building and have to walk 60 feet (20m). Now our passports and visas are examined and we get a stamp on our visas. By the way, the visa is not in the passport, it is on an A4 printout. This means that you have fewer problems entering other countries such as Israel. On the way back to the Iveco, Maryse's passport is checked by a woman in a separate house and my passport, in the building where the Iveco is parked, by a man. All customs officers are extremely friendly and we hear a smiling “Welcome to Iran” several times. We drive 300 feet (100m) further and are now in front of the customs building. A man takes a quick look at our documents and says we have to make a copy of everything. So back out and around the corner to the customs copy shop. Everything is copied. Of course, we can't pay in Iranian rial, so we hand him our second to last 1000 bill from Armenia (2.50$). He nods and says that's OK. Back into the building, and now our Carnet de Passage (passport from the vehicle for duty-free entry and exit) is finally filled out and stamped (unfortunately a bit wrong), and we get a small piece of paper that confirms that we have passed the last barrier allowed to leave the country (so we think). By the way, our car is not even searched or looked at and we are not asked if we have alcohol with us. So, we drive to the barrier and are not let through. The man explains to us several times that we are not allowed to drive through and have to go back to the other building. Confused, we drive back and I go to the same man who stamped the Carnet de Passage. He explained to me in very bad English that I had to go back. But where? I do not understand. After the third time asking, he sends a guy with me. The guy and I walk back 300 feet (100m) and come to some container with a window (no sign at all). Here the car license plate and a few other pieces of information are entered into a computer. Back to the Iveco and the next attempt. Lo and behold, the barrier opens and we can finally get out of the turmoil! Departure 1H20Min, i.e. border crossing 2.5H in total. That's OK.

Change money:

Finally driving! The landscape with its steep reddish rocks on either side is phenomenal! Of course, we hold back with taking pictures because we are in a border area. We drive west along the border river towards Jolfa. The first miles along the border with Armenia, but soon along the border with Azerbaijan. Arrived in Jolfa we finally want money. In Iran, it is different than before. Because of the sanctions, ATMs are not accessible to us. And changing dollars at a bank is not a good idea either. So, we are heading for a “Money Change” office. A few days ago, we found out about the unofficial exchange rate on the Internet. We are offered roughly what we found out on the internet. $1 gives 340,000 rials. 8 times more than the official exchange rate at the banks (42'000 riyals / $)!

Car insurance:

With a huge bundle of bills worth 34 million rials, we leave the town of Jolfa and head south towards Marand, a city of 800,000 people.

Shortly before Marand, when shifting to fifth gear, a scraping noise from the gearbox hits our ears! Oh my goodness, another new sound! In the meantime, we have had a knock when driving down for 600 miles (1000km), then just before the Iranian border there was the banging hit when reversing, and now a massive scratching when engaging gear! At some point, we will definitely be stuck with a gearbox failure!! With careful driving, we manage the last few miles to Marand, and it goes straight to an insurance office so that we can get our car insurance! It is 4:30PM and the office closes at 4:00PM. Well, bad luck, but then a man comes from the neighboring building and says we should wait.

Apparently because our car is big and old. Here, insurance for older vehicles is higher than for newer ones, possibly because older vehicles have more accidents.

We mention our problem with the vehicle to Reza. Almost as expected, he knows a shop. We say goodbye to Simis, set off and drive after Reza, with a hardly drivable Iveco, in the chaotic rush hour traffic! Of course, the shop cannot help us and we are recommended to look further in Tabriz. Reza leads us a few hundred yards (meters) further to a parking lot where we can spend the night. This belongs to his father's restaurant and we are warmly welcomed by some older gentlemen who are in the large restaurant.

Now they want to organize a towing service for tomorrow. It's getting a bit too much for us :-). And there's the tow truck, looking at our car. We have to make it clear to him again that we want to load the car, not tow it (it scratches even when idling). Then he dismisses the fact that the car is too heavy for his tow truck. Now the Iranians want to see the inside of our car and want to know what our problem is. A huge tumult, four friendly Iranians in the Iveco, we even drive into a gate with the drawn-out steps and the test drive begins! And how could it be otherwise? The Iveco drives wonderfully since everything has cooled down! We agree that we will try to go to Tabriz ourselves tomorrow. We can finally say goodbye and go to our little house to sleep! What a first day!

November 20^th 2022

Marand – Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 50 (80km)

Miles total: 13’400 (21’570km)

After the somewhat turbulent conclusion of yesterday evening, we slept quite well. As agreed, Reza visits us again in the morning. He wants to bring us something for breakfast, but we got up early and have already had breakfast. We want to leave for Tabriz as soon as possible, but we would like to organize a SIM card first. We would be happier if we were at least equipped with a phone for the journey. We ask Reza if he could help us with that. He agrees, but first he takes his 6-year-old cousin, who lives next door, to school. As soon as he's back, we hop in his car and drive to the nearest SIM card shop. In the tiny shop, the salesman enters our data into the computer and is surprised that our fathers' names are not visible on the passports :-). In many countries, this is an important part of personal details! However, our plan then fails; not because of the missing names, but because tourists can only buy a SIM card after 72 hours after entry. We do not know what the reasons for this are, in any case it is still too early for us today. Back at the Iveco we say goodbye to our beloved Reza. Already on the first day in Iran we were able to enjoy the generous Iranian hospitality and willingness to help! As a small thank you, we give him a small Swiss Army Knife :-). So, we set off with an odd feeling, hoping that we will make it to Tabriz, 50 miles (80km) away. But as already suspected, after some miles (10km) we hear the grinding and crunching noise from the gearbox again! We're really afraid that if we continue driving, there might be serious consequential damage to the gearbox. And so, we start the second attempt to organize a tow truck: We walk to the nearest building, a large factory site, where we explain our concerns to the porter/security guard at the entrance gate using Google Translate and drawings. He understands what we want, first makes us some tea, until a second porter comes and a few phone calls are made. We are told that towing to Tabriz will cost us $227. Do we agree? Well, that's quite a lot by local standards, but what else can we do? We agree and explain to him that we will wait by the car. We are already looking forward to the fact that car towing will now work after all. After waiting 40 minutes, the guard brings us the bad news: our car is now too heavy for the tow truck! Damn it! Same problem again! He offers to have a mechanic come and take a look. We don't want that as we "know" a mechanic in Tabriz (from the iOverlander app) who is well versed in 4x4s and other travelers have had good experiences there. In addition, Tabriz is the largest city in the area and the probability of being able to find any spare parts that may be needed is greatest here. And since we are still reasonably fit to drive, we take the risk and drive off again carefully. Again and again there is an alarming crunch in the gears! We are very slow and careful on the way, sometimes we can drive on the unpaved "side lane", sometimes we have to drive in the middle of traffic on the busy main road. Traffic in Iran is absolutely chaotic and unpredictable! We notice that there are actually only cars or big trucks here. Smaller transporters and vans, in the weight class of our Iveco, are completely missing. Consequently, there are of course no tow trucks for it! So that's why! Stefan has meanwhile developed a driving technique when driving down, with which he can suppress the noise somewhat: Accelerate and brake at the same time! Very efficient ;-). A little encouragement is the partly fantastic, reddish and eroded hilly landscape that rises right next to the road. Our stomachs are slowly growling and we dare to visit a restaurant in Iran for the first time. 

Since there is no menu and no one speaks English, we look around the room to see what people have on the tables. We order a kind of stew with meat (sheep), potatoes and chickpeas, which is served in a small bulbous pot. There is also a stamper with which you can crush the whole thing. Actually, a very tasty menu, if there weren't three large pieces of pure fat in the pot in addition to the soft-cooked pieces of meat! Neither of us can eat these, with the best of intentions. We wrap them in a piece of flatbread and smuggle them out of the restaurant :-). A dog will be happy about that! After a good three hours, we are finally in Tabriz! Now all we have to do is find that mechanic. We drive on a large three-lane main road, miss the first U-turn and waste time with an additional detour. And then we're finally there, in the Dieselabad district, where there are hundreds of small and large car repair shops and spare parts shops for diesel vehicles. We park our vehicle and try to find the right workshop using the map on the iOverlander app. Unfortunately, GPS does not work accurately and so we are at first quite perplexed in front of the rows of workshops. All we know is the mechanic's name and phone number. So, we ask a man who comes along if he can help us. He doesn't understand what we want; a second man who speaks some English joins them. He immediately pulls out his phone and dials the number we give him. After 30 seconds, Yusef waves to us, we've finally found him! His knowledge of English is very modest, but he understands that we have problems with the gearbox. He immediately fetches tools, lies under the car and drains a little gear oil. He thinks the gearbox is fine, there is no abrasion in the oil. During a test drive, we can then demonstrate the noise to him. It is immediately clear to him that there is a problem in the transfer case. We could park the Iveco right in front of the workshop, but today he doesn't have time to do anything about it. That's absolutely fine with us ;-). Incidentally, we can no longer engage reverse gear and have to push the Iveco out of the parking space! We take a look around the workshop. It's a small room with two workbenches, a small table and tons of gear box parts. 

Two of Yusef's employees are using a small cart to transport a truck gearbox to the workshop, where it will be opened and repaired. Somehow, we imagined the workshop differently, but we still have the feeling that we have landed in exactly the right place! They definitely know their way around gears here. Behind the workshop there is a large oil-smeared space where the trucks to be repaired from different workshops are parked. To pass the time we walk around the neighborhood and on the way back a group of five men speaks to us. They are from the police, one shows us an ID card that we cannot read because it is only written in Farsi. We're astonished, we really didn't expect the police here, and in civilian clothes and five of them! One of the five men speaks some English. They want to see our passports and visas. We are a little nervous, also because of the currently tense situation in Iran. We walk with them to the Iveco and hand them our documents. They want to know what we're doing here, how long we're staying, etc. Basically, they're very friendly, laugh and enjoy us. But somehow, we find them almost too friendly... What also strikes us as strange is that one of the "policemen" is filming us the whole time during this check with his mobile phone and our passports, visas and vehicle documents are being photographed. We also have to give our Swiss phone number. Everything is fine with our documents and they explain that the control is only for our safety. Finally, a photo is taken with us and one of the "policemen". We first have to digest this strange experience and review it. If this happens to us again, we want to take a closer look at this ID card and also ask why we are being filmed and photographed. This time we were so taken by surprise that we simply complied. We spend the night in front of the workshop in the Iveco.  

November 21^st 2022

Tabriz, Iran

On our first night in Tabriz we slept surprisingly well next to the huge main road. I (Stefan) take off the first underneath protection after breakfast. Now Yusef comes and off we go. The approximately 60-year-old man is in great shape. You won't find a pit, lift or crane, manual work is the order of the day! I drive up two old spring plates onto disused truck rims and in 1.5H the drive shafts and transfer case are down! The transfer case is opened and it quickly becomes clear where the scratching came from! The fork that is responsible for engaging the reduction gears is missing the plastic bracket and the fork has been seized. As a result, the gear had far too much play and was no longer properly engaged and scratched!

We were lucky, we didn't stop completely in front of Tabriz. Well, because of the sanctions, there are no new spare parts for our Iveco available. But the people in Iran are extremely good at repairing things. But how to fix such a fork? Mill off the seized ends of the fork, weld on new aluminum and mill in new grooves. Incidentally, Yusef does not do this work himself. He gets on his bike and cycles to another shop in Dieselabad (which means Dieseltown) to get this done. Unfortunately, new replacement inserts (former plastic hangers) can no longer be manufactured today, so we go to a hotel at 4:00 p.m. We have internet in the hotel for the first time, but quickly notice that our 15$ VPN doesn't work (VPN is used to access all websites. Certain sites such as Google or Facebook are otherwise blocked in this country). However, we were promptly helped in the hotel and another free VPN was installed and is working within a minute. For dinner, we treat ourselves to a pizza in a small shop while the soccer match between Iran and England is on TV.

November 22^nd 2022

Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 10 (20km)

Miles total: 13’410 (21’590km)

We have to admit that staying in the hotel was a bit more pleasant than in the Iveco next to the busy road ;-). For just under 20$ we had a decent room including breakfast. However, if you want to sleep in, this is the wrong place. At 8.00 a.m. the ongoing renovation work in the hotel begins with a sledgehammer... Since we are the only western tourists in the hotel, we stand out accordingly in the breakfast room. We are eyed like sore thumbs. We have to get used to that again, because in countries like Iran, as a tourist, you naturally stand out because of the slightly different clothing. Also, there are still relatively few tourists in Iran. Certainly, we have adapted according to the regulations: Unfortunately, a headscarf and a long dress are compulsory for me (Maryse). Here is a brief digression on the highly explosive subject of dress codes: Here in the city, many women wear their headscarves far back, so they show a lot of hair. This was also the case on our first trip 10 years ago. In other respects, too, clothing does not always fully comply with Islamic law. Of course, there are also many conservatively dressed women. Many even wear the chador, the black full body garment. What is completely new for us is that we see individual women without headscarves, which is certainly related to the current protests. Now back to today. Before we drive back to the workshop, we want to take a taxi into town to finally get a SIM card. We stand on the street in front of the hotel, a car stops (no taxi) and takes us to the desired location. We don't know whether this was a private "taxi" or simply a man who was driving in this direction and wanted to earn some extra money. We receive the SIM card without any problems against signature and fingerprint! Now we want to stroll through the big bazaar. But before that we discover a small stand that offers flatbreads filled with potatoes, eggs and fresh herbs. Finally a delicious vegetarian snack! Here a man speaks to us in good English, asks the usual questions “where from, how long, where to” and invites us to tea in his office. We end up at the tourist office and are greeted in German by this man's brother. He is the head of the tourist office and provides us with a lot of information, a city map and his telephone number. But now on to the huge bazaar.

Of course, as so often, this is a highlight! We dive into the maze of narrow streets full of small shops with wonderful displays of spices, dried fruits and nuts, carpets, clothes, household goods and much more. Not only are the goods on offer fascinating, but the bazaar building itself is impressive, parts of which date back to the 15th century. Unfortunately, we only have a short time, then we take a taxi straight back to Yusef. We're probably a bit too late, because Yusef has already put the transfer case back together. Too bad, we would have liked to have inspected the newly made brass inserts on the fork. Since we are not the only customers at Yusef, the assembly of the gearbox has to wait a little longer. By the way, there is another resident of the workshop: "Gere", the black workshop cat. Unsuspectingly we pet Gere when we first meet, but somehow the fur feels strange. We quickly see why: Yusef and his employees pet the cat with oily hands while they work! Accordingly, the fur of the poor animal has become quite oily... Luckily Gere is naturally black (or so we think) :-). In the late afternoon, we get to work. Yusef and Stefan lift the transfer case together and it is professionally installed within a short time. Everything under the supervision of "Gere", who often stays near Yusef :-).

Now the test drive! Reverse gear works, the scratching noise is gone and the hitting when driving down seems to be gone. Excellent! We drive back satisfied, drink tea together at the end and then finally come to the bill. Yusef only charges $100 for the entire job! Makes you wonder how people can survive here! Now we go to the other end of town, to the parking lot of a park that is known for camping, even by Iranians. We're driving very carefully and don't quite trust it yet. And then, it rips us through marrow and bone, the downhill banging noise!

November 23rd 2022

Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 10 (20km)

Miles total: 13’420 (21’610km)

Later in the morning we knock on Yusef's door again. Hello-Hello, it's us again. Yusef gets into the car right away and we show him the banging sound when going downhill. We couldn't show him this noise before because the other scratching was much more dominant. He drains a little gear oil and checks whether abrasion is visible. The oil is clean, and for Yusef that means the gearbox is fine. Since he is completely covered with other work, he tries to persuade us to continue driving. It will be difficult to find and fix the problem, and he may not be able to start work for a few days. We persist and explain to him that we are afraid to break down and that we are in an uncomfortable situation. Yusef thinks... He laughs, drops a spell and decides to start today! We are enormously grateful because we know that he has many other customers, some of whom are already waiting in his workshop. Yusef suggests taking a look at the manual transmission, although he says it's OK. Before we go to work, we go to the mechanic's bistro next door for a bite to eat. The staff are happy to see us again and want to take photos with us.

And now the Iveco is dismantled piece by piece. It should be mentioned that Yusef also works on other vehicles in between. The transfer case first, then the main gearbox. My (Stefan) thoughts: Does Yusef really want to take it down by hand? It can't be! But yes, it's being levered, shaken and Yusef and I under the gearbox that's coming our way!

Yusef sings happily from time to time and, in contrast to me, finds the whole thing funny :-). And here comes the gearbox: supported on Yusef's feet and legs, we bring it to the ground. Done! And yet Yusef was always right when he said the gearbox was fine! Everything looks good! But where does this brutal hit when driving down come from??? We'll let that puzzle rest for today. We're heading towards the hotel. We look in vain for a taxi and decide to walk for an hour. Also good. Unfortunately, we only notice shortly before the hotel that we left our passports and visas in the camper! We forgot the most important thing. The very friendly young receptionist must have the passports even though we stayed here two days ago. law is law. So we grab a taxi, drive to Dieselabad and back to the hotel. On the almost one-hour drive, we talk to the young driver about politics and the situation in Iran. He has given up all hope of change and looks to the future with no prospects! I ask him if he has a girlfriend? He laughs, affirms the question, and says that of course it is a secret relationship where none of the parents involved are allowed to know anything about it! When paying, he says with his head hanging down: "700,000 rials, $2". Absolute madness for us, 50 minutes by taxi for $2. How can people live at all? Without further ado, we decide to give the guy 20€ instead of 2$ with the words: "Here take it and buy your girlfriend something nice"! It doesn't suit him, but he accepts it. A moving, interesting but also very depressing journey for us!

Check in at the hotel and off to a nearby shopping mall for dinner. We can also see the current situation with the protests in Iran here. Within a short time, we meet about 15, mostly very young women who no longer wear a headscarf as a protest. We really admire these women for their bravery! Now back to the shopping mall in the food court, where we (as tourists) are of course very eye-catching. A young woman comes to our table and speaks fluent English. She is happy to talk to us and later brings us a note with her phone number and various tips on what to see in the area. Such kind gestures are not uncommon in Iran, and it is precisely such encounters that make a trip to Iran something special.

November 24^th 2022

Tabriz, Iran

The first thing we need today is money. Namely 70 million rials :-). This corresponds to €200. So, we go ahead, take a taxi to the bazaar. As soon as we got out of the taxi, someone asks us if we want to change money and we end up in his jewelery shop. We agree on the price, give him the €200 bill and he gives us a bundle of 500,000 rial bills. The guys probably wanted to cheat us, because when I count it on the spot I only get half that, namely only 35,000,000 rials. And then someone gives another 20,000,000, and finally another 15,000,000! There are probably tourists who don't count it and quickly move on, since the whole thing happens on the black market! We take a taxi back to the hotel, check out and continue by taxi to Yusef.

We can see immediately that our chief mechanic couldn't stop and wanted to know where these brutal noises come from when driving downhill. The gearbox is already assembled and the transfer case is open for the second time. The chain has worn out over the past 170’000 miles (290,000km) and is too long. Yusef wants to shorten the chain because new parts are not available. But how? Hmmm? One pushes the chain piece by piece on the vice and Yusef hits each of the 100 chain pins with a hammer. As a result, the chain pins expand and the chain becomes shorter. It's that easy in Iran :-).

By the way, today we invite Yusef for lunch next door. Three complete menus: 6$. So, and now a work begins, as it can hardly be seen back home. The heavy manual transmission has to go back on our car! Only by hand, of course, and that's how it works: Two men are lying under the car and I'm pulling a rope that's wrapped around one end of the gearbox through the hole where the gear lever is usually to the top. After several attempts, it finally works!! really difficult!! Unfortunately, everything is taking longer and we can't finish today. Although tomorrow is "Sunday" (actually Friday, but that's Sunday here), Yusef wants to work. "But no Yusef, take a day off" we say. He agrees and tells the security man to keep an eye on our car. By the way, the security is just a man with a full beard and tattoos who lives in his workshop nearby.

November 25^th 2022

Tabriz, Iran

We use our "workshop-free" day to check out the city again. Of course, we roam through the bazaar again, stock up on delicious pistachios (heaven for every nut lover!) and try typical Iranian street food at a small mobile stand: a bowl of steamed sugar beets. Taste delicious and sweet :-). 

We also visit some sights: the mighty "Arg" is the city's most famous monument and a remnant of a gigantic 14th century mosque and later fortress. Also well known, is the clock tower of the Town Hall, built in 1934 under the supervision of German architects. Unfortunately, we are not allowed access to Behnam House, a restored early Qajar Dynasty home. The house is now part of a university and obviously cannot be visited at the moment. The weather is cold and wet, we always escape to the cozy and sometimes very modern cafes. Here you almost feel like somewhere in Western Europe! 

Towards the evening we notice the many police officers in protective gear on the street, just as another huge bus full of police officers is driving into a parking lot. Some armored vehicles are also visible. We don't know what's going on here and to be on the safe side we flee to another part of the city. Later it becomes clear to us what this police presence is supposed to do. Today the World Cup Match Iran-Wales takes place and riots are probably expected... Iran wins 2-0! The streets are slowly getting crowded, honking cars drive through the city with waving flags until finally the center of the city is totally congested and people are standing in the roundabouts and partying! We notice that the revelers tend to be conservative people. In view of the major disagreements with the government, it probably contradicts many people at the moment to celebrate their country in public! However, the crowd is too much for us, so we retreat to a cozy restaurant and finally feast on something other than rice and kebab! For the way back, we catch a “private” taxi again. The elderly funny man has a pretty breakneck driving style and when we want to show him something on his cell phone, he hints that his eyesight is bad... Last but not least, when it's pouring rain, the car's wipers break down! We are glad that we can get off soon ;-).

November 26^th 2022

Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 20 (30km)

Miles total: 13’440 (21’640km)

And off we go, by taxi to Yusef. The first thing I (Stefan) do, is look under the camper and think: "Man, that can’t be". Yusef was actually here yesterday on his day off and installed the transfer case and drive shafts. Probably because he's just too busy. We'll soon be wanting lunch, but our well-known bistro next door is closed. We walk around in the area we now know, and find a place that is only for take-away. So we just take the food with us into the camper, no problem. They invite us in, we can sit in the 100 square feet room and immediately get tea and soup. With Google Translate we communicate a few words and here too, we feel the dissatisfaction of the people with the current situation in Iran, although it is a rather conservative family based on the woman's clothes. We get two take-away boxes filled with rice and a chicken leg and ask how much it costs. They say we're their guests and it's free! Well, here in Iran there is "Taarof", a "ritualized courtesy" that is mostly incomprehensible to us. One should never agree the first time, but reject 3 times. This also applies if you are invited home. (Taarof can be complicated, so more info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taarof)

We ask 3 or 4 times, but nothing helps, we don't pay anything. Again, one of the moments in Iran :-).

The car is completely finished and we pay the bill. Like last time, $100 for Yusef and $10 for the tattooed security man. 

The car seems to run fine and we drive 20 km across town to the well-known "campsite" by the park. Now we are going into another world. In a noble shopping mall. It always gives us food for thought when we see the stark contrasts. There are people outside who make $100 a month and the mall is dominated by glitz, glitter and expensive shops. Let's go eat something first. Now we are still looking for a longer dress for Maryse, because it is well known that in Iran the buttock has to be covered and her current piece is a bit short. Maryse is trying one on and we want to buy it. At check-out we are shocked by the price. The equivalent of 50$! Who can afford something like this (Made in Turkey)? Since the dress is only for Iran, we back down. At the bazaar, something similar would probably cost 10 times less!

November 27^th 2022

Tabriz, Iran

Today we go back into the city, because we still want to see some sights. The weather is good and we tackle the hour-long journey on foot.

Right next door is the so-called Blue Mosque (or Kabud Mosque), known for its unique architecture and decorations with turquoise and blue ceramic tiles and mosaic work. Magnificently built in 1465, the mosque was severely damaged by an earthquake 300 years later.

Thanks to an extensive reconstruction project, the mosque can now be visited again. Iranian mosques never cease to amaze us with their wonderful colors and patterns. We spend the rest of the afternoon wandering aimlessly through the city.

There is a cozy café right next door, where we chat with Sahid for a while over coffee and cake. To get back to the camper we choose the subway. It is obviously a relatively new facility, but a lot of it looks somehow unfinished and some things already seem neglected. Shame about the great project. The subway takes us home for less than 10 cents per trip!

November 28^th 2022

Tabriz – Kandovan, Iran

Miles: 40 (70km)

Miles total: 13’480 (21’710km)

The first real trip after the repair is coming! We already noticed yesterday that an unusual squeak can be heard when starting the car. Maybe it has something to do with the shortened chain? We don't know and hope that this will subside over time... Carefully, still as if on needles, we drive out of town. We don't really trust the whole thing yet and listen to every little noise that the car makes. It sounds a bit different, somehow coarser. We know our Iveco ;-). But, the hitting when going downhill is definitely gone! 

The overnight stay up here is not possible - too cold for our water tank. But the trip here was definitely worth it! We are standing in front of a small village built into an incredible landscape! A band of sharp rocks juts out of the ground here, fully integrated into the village! In earlier years, people took advantage of the soft tuff: caves were hewn into the rock towers and real apartments were built from them, sometimes even multi-storey! Some of the caves are still inhabited today, but of course many residents have moved to the lower part of the village, to real houses. 

Many of the caves are only accessible by steep footpaths, which does not exactly increase the living comfort. The caves are now partially rented out as hotel rooms. Despite the many souvenir shops, the cave village seems very authentic to us. Laundry blows in the wind, food smells from the kitchen, boys play football and we keep encountering donkeys transporting loads up the narrow paths. The sun sets early here and we make our way into somewhat lower climes. We find a nice place in nature, a friendly shepherd stops by and invites us to his home. This is definitely Taarof: we decline with thanks, the man showed us his appreciation with the invitation and said goodbye with satisfaction.

November 29^th 2022

Kandovan – Colored Mountains, Iran

Miles: 70 (100km)

Miles total: 13’550 (21’810km)

We take off and for the first time we go to get diesel. Besides trucks, there are practically no diesel vehicles in Iran, and diesel is heavily subsidized. In addition, every truck driver has a diesel card with a certain quota. The official diesel price is just under 4 cents per gallon (1 cent per liter) (and no, we didn't forget a zero!). But since we don't have a diesel card, the price varies depending on the gas station attendant, some of whom also have a diesel card. You will also be turned away from time to time and will not get any diesel at all. But we are lucky and the gas station attendant gives us 100L. However, at 55 cents per gallon (15 cents per liter). We don't know yet whether that's a good or bad price. But it's actually nothing compared to other countries :-).

We continue and we pass the city of Tabriz (a few 100m from Yusef) in a north-easterly direction. We soon land at our destination, the "Coloured Mountains", which live up to their name! Now we are looking for a place to sleep where the Iveco can hide behind a hill so that we cannot be seen from the road.

A phenomenal red-brown-white-green rocky landscape spreads out in front of us and our camera runs hot during the hour-long hike in the surrounding hills.

November 30^th 2022

Colored Mountains – Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 40 (70km)

Miles total: 13’590 (21’880km)

It's nasty today, a cold wind and rain is outside. Our heating is worth its weight in gold. Looking out we spot a dog looking for food. Unfortunately, the dogs in Iran are miserable. They are hardly fed and from the fear they have, you can imagine that they are probably chased away most of the time! We don't have much more than a sandwich bread for him, but still! We drive off and after 6 miles (10km) we hear a faint but new noise. we stop. Hopefully not something in the drive again! We want to start driving again, but for now it's just a matter of wanting! We're idling and we're stuck! Oh shit! I'll wiggle the transfer case gear lever and we'll move forward again! Just way too slow! We're stuck in the reduction gear!!! Since we're starting to be little car transmission experts, the case is clear. The patched fork is probably broken! Nevertheless, I dress warmly and crawl under the car in the rain and wind. I mechanically disconnect the lever from the transfer case and operate it manually with pliers. As expected, it doesn't bring any progress either! We have to go back to Tabriz, to Yusef! We drive off in the reduction gear. The rpm counter is at 1500 and we only reach 12mph (20km/h) in 5th gear! We don't want to drive any faster (max. 15-20mph / 25-30 km/h) as it could possibly overheat with reduction! We have almost 40 miles (60km) ahead of us! With a lunch stop we have four hours! The constant traffic that passes us doesn't make it any easier! A young Iranian in an old American jeep indicates while driving that we should stop. He speaks good English and asks if we have problems. Of course, we have problems :-) and briefly explain our situation. He's free today, knows a good shop and can help us with the translation. We decline with thanks and drive once across the city of Tabriz. We make it and arrive at Yusef's at 3:15 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., as usual, I drive the car onto old truck rims and less than 30 minutes later the transfer case is already lying open on the table! Crazy! Every move fits. Our assumption is correct, and the fork broke! Yusef disappears and comes back an hour later with the newly patched fork.

It has been welded on thicker, and over a larger area and, above all, no brass inserts have been inserted. Because these were probably to blame for the breakage of the fork. One of the inserts probably came loose, jammed in the fork and caused it to break. Because otherwise the fork does not experience any forces! It's 7:00 p.m. and Yusef has the transmission ready to be installed again! So, in 3.5H everything done! We tell him that we are postponing assembly to the following day. He's happy but said he'd have it up there in 40 minutes and we could go. He is probably used to other travelers always wanting to move on as soon as possible! And so, we are stuck in Tabriz again, next to the huge main street in the Dieselabad district!

December 1^st 2022

Tabriz, Iran

Miles: 10 (10km)

Miles total: 13’600 (21’890km)

We eat a small breakfast in the camper and soon Yusef shows up and invites us to another breakfast in his workshop :-).

We install the transfer case and everything is finished in the morning. Yusef doesn't want any money, that's warranty. But we insist and give him 50€ for about 6 hours of work. Hopefully we're saying goodbye for the last time and now have the glorious idea of driving into the middle of the city to recharge our SIM card with internet credit. The traffic is hell, bumper to bumper to the center! When parking in Iranian cities, there is always uncontrolled chaos! You just pull up at the edge and park, and if someone is already there you park next to it and block a few vehicles. Sometimes you can see papers with telephone numbers on the windscreen so that you can call if you want to drive away :-). So, we park like the locals, halfway on the street and lock up several vehicles. Maryse goes to charge the SIM card alone and I wait in the car. For 30 minutes, I (along with a few others) block one lane of the actually 3-lane road. Nobody cares. Maryse is back and finally we can get out of the chaos to our well-known parking lot next to the small park.

For lunch, we go to a shopping mall next door, which is right next to a university. Countless students are bustling about in the food court, and around one in four women is not wearing a headscarf. But we also see a woman standing around in a corner in a chador, observing the people somewhat suspiciously. Maybe she's from the Special police (to see if women are dressed accordingly)? At the exit, we are approached by a student who speaks good English. She shows us a shop with hand-painted ceramic items by various local artists. We treat ourselves to some nice souvenirs. Once again in the store we feel the heavy dislike of the government.

December 2^nd 2022

Tabriz – Qaleh Zahak, Iran

Miles: 80 (140km)

Miles total: 13’680 (22’030km)

Our second attempt to leave Tabriz city is coming up! We very much hope that it will definitely be the last visit for this trip! The damage to the transfer case has been provisionally repaired, but with the following "consequential damage": squeaking when starting the car (since the chain was shortened) and a slightly rougher driving feeling (since the clutch was changed, the flywheel may have been uncleanly ground). But we are confident and hope that we can get to Kuwait without further incident. We should get spare parts there and will replace the patched parts. We leave the city of one and a half million on the autobahn heading southeast. We often encounter cyclists on the busy road. How can you ride a bicycle on this road? We come to the conclusion that the wide three-lane highway is arguably the safest place (near the city) to cycle! The main roads are certainly anything but bicycle-friendly due to the heavy traffic and breakneck driving style of the Iranians. And you'll probably look in vain for bike lanes anywhere in the country. In the city itself you see very, very few cyclists. For lunch we find a nice restaurant. The friendly waiter immediately put a Swiss flag and an Iranian flag on the table :-).

The appetizers that are automatically served with every menu are also great: a very tasty barley soup and a mixed salad. We were already looking forward to the fact that the main course would definitely include something other than kebab or chicken skewers and rice. But unfortunately, no... We don't know if it's because of the communication problems, but somehow, we have the feeling that the culinary variety in the restaurants is very limited. We know from our guide book that Iranian cuisine has much more to offer. Unfortunately, we have hardly experienced this until now. We will work on it :-). Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant visit to the restaurant. We leave the highway and drive on main roads through a beautiful hilly landscape towards our destination, the "Zahak Fortress". Today is Friday, which is Islamic Sunday, and there are quite a few people in the attraction's parking lot.

Later, another man in an orange vest, an employee of the tourist office, comes. That's great because we can ask him right away if it's okay to stay here. He agrees and tells us that he used to be a mountaineer and even climbed Mount Ararat. He also knows our Matterhorn. By the way, it is a great place to stay with a great view of the beautiful gorge.

December 3^rd 2022

Qaleh Zahak – Toryan, Iran

Miles: 50 (80km)

Miles total: 13’730 (22’110km)

From the parking lot, we walk to Zahak Fortress, which is on the other side of the deep gorge. In a good 40 minutes, we reach the fortress and are warmly welcomed by the guard. He immediately gives us a brochure for the region and gives us a short tour of the site. All that is left of the fortress is a brick tower, which, apart from its exposed position on the edge of the gorge, is not particularly special. Soon we're sitting in the warm guard house with a cup of tea and chatting with Google Translate. Unfortunately, the language barrier is often a big problem here in Iran as well. So that there is still no boredom, photos are often shown to each other on their cell phones :-). Later he calls his boss, the region's tourism director, with whom we have a hard time conversing in English. After warming up, we take a short hike around the area. Again and again we get new insights into the impressive gorge that meanders around the fortress.

The grandiose landscape is the real reason to come here! We would have liked to have taken a longer hike through the beautiful area, but given the nasty and cold weather we are not very motivated. We'll soon be moving on and driving back onto the highway on side roads. For the first time in Iran we catch a dirt road that leads us through vast fields and small villages. By the way, the tourism director calls again on the way and wants to invite us to lunch and show us other sights in the region. However, we are already too far away from his office in Hashtrud and therefore decline with thanks. The highway takes us again through a grandiose area with colored hills, where we look for a place to stay and wait for better weather for tomorrow. Just as we turn off the highway, we spot a herd of camels at the side of the road. By the way, this is the second time in the Tabriz region that we see camels. We assume that camel hair is the reason for breeding the animals. In Tabriz, we saw many stalls selling camel hair products. We stop and ask the shepherd if we can take a picture. To our surprise, he wants money for it. We huff around a bit and he immediately hints that he'd be okay with something to eat, too. We get him a pack of Cookies from the car, unfortunately we don't have much more to offer. Meanwhile, there is some chaos in the herd and some runaways are pouring out in all directions.

The shepherd runs and we make ourselves useful too and (I Maryse) can even stop one of the camels from trotting onto the highway...

December 4^th 2022

Toryan – Hsar, Iran

Miles: 60 (90km)

Miles total: 13’790 (22’200km)

Unfortunately, the unique colored rocks also appear a bit pale to us this morning, because the weather is still not kind to us. Still, the little hike up the surrounding hills is fantastic!

We're leaving. First a stretch of highway, but soon we turn onto side roads to marvel at more colored semi-desert hills and rocks.

Our lunch in a village again consists of kebab and rice on the one hand, but at least a delicious meat stew on the other. We make a small detour and after an hour drive past the same kebab stand again. A little later a car overtakes us and the restaurant employee waves to us; we should stop. We didn't forget something in the restaurant, no, he wants to invite us to his home. Of course, we reject "Taarof" compliant. But he's serious. We still decline because it's only 2:00 p.m. and we want to make a little progress today. In addition, it is also a bit difficult to communicate because the lovely man does not speak any English. He moves on disappointed and we have a bad conscience for a while. You have to imagine that there are very few Western travelers away from the tourist centers, and that interest is therefore high. Sometimes it is difficult to make the right decision. Later, we set up camp in the middle of nature.

December 5th 2022

Hsar-Zanjan, Iran

Miles: 60 (90km)

Miles total: 13,850 (22,290km)

First thing in the morning, we get to know many sheep, goats, their dogs, and of course one of the friendly shepherds. He smiles and we chat for a minute using our few words in Farsi. And now, having just set off, we can't believe our eyes. The sun is here and the colored rocks are shining magnificently towards us. Fantastic!

Soon the colorful hills disappear and a flat, boring and barren area takes over. And suddenly there is a hitchhiker in front of us and we decide to pick him up. Just started driving, he wants to invite us to his place. But we don't want to go back, we want to go forward, so we decline. About an hour later we arrive in Zanjan, and on the way, we were invited to dinner again, but this time at his cousin's. After some back and forth we decide to accept this invitation. Did we screw that up with "taarof" which means "insincere politeness"? Have we rejected enough? We don't know it. We drive across town and wait in front of the house. There's nobody there yet. After 10 minutes the family arrives. The cousin Javid and his wife, Javid's mother and father. About an hour later, Javid's sister joins them with her husband and children. We step into the house and into the beautiful living room. It is a typical living room with rugs all over the floor, sofas surrounding it and plenty of space in the middle. Maryse is taken straight into the kitchen and helps cut the potatoes. I chat with Javid about Iran and Europe. There are always touching conversations and with every such conversation you realize how good we have it in the West and how much we mistakenly take for granted.

Now the eating gets served. Not on a table, but on the floor as usual. Rice, kebab skewers, meat stew, eggplant, etc, etc... We'll soon be stuffed and we're always meant to eat more. The photo shoot, exchange phone numbers and Instagram is coming up. We would like to move on, but the mother just doesn't want to let us go, offers us to sleep, shower, eat here and not move on until tomorrow. After tough negotiations ;-) we manage to say goodbye after 5 hours and spend the night in a parking lot in our usual little house. One of those days you don't forget.

December 6^th 2022

Zanjan – Qazvin, Iran

Miles: 120 (200km)

Miles total: 13’970 (22’490km)

The route between the two cities is probably the most unattractive for a long time. Flat, gray, a lot of industry, a lot of plastic bag waste and many trucks. We are currently moving at 40mph (60km/h) because we want to be careful with our transfer case. On the way, we make a stop at Oljeitu's mausoleum in Soltaniyeh. The 14th century originating building is massive. The dome has an immense diameter of 85 feet (26m) inside and a height, floor - dome, of 170 feet (52m). We are also impressed by the infinite number of ornaments that can be seen on the walk-on balconies.

But we soon flee, because with the icy wind, it is freezing cold! In Qazvin, thanks to the iOverlander app, we quickly find a suitable place to sleep, next to a park.

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December 7^th & 8^th 2022

Qazvin, Iran

In the morning, “our” parking lot is already busy. There is a girls' high school right next door and many students are brought here by car. We pack our full laundry bags and set off on foot to the laundry found on Google Maps. Finding the right type of laundry was not easy, as there are many dry cleaners as well as a number of carpet cleaners. Somewhere, the carpets that are in abundance in Iranian households have to be cleaned ;-). A couple of city workers who are having their mid-morning snack in the park wave at us. A few minutes later one of these men catches up with us on his bicycle and eagerly explains to us in Farsi where we can find a laundry. We say thank you and keep going. But he doesn't let it rest, he follows us again and asks another shopkeeper for the right way. Only now does the nice and friendly man let us move on independently :-). We soon reach our destination and receive a very friendly welcome here as well. Yesterday's World Cup defeat by our Swiss national team is an issue immediately after the announcement of our nationality :-). And because the Iranians were eliminated with a similarly bad result (6:2), we can complain about the same suffering ;-). This laundry also mainly does dry cleaning, but normal laundry is also washed, so we can drop off our bags and pick them up tomorrow evening. Our stay in Qazvin has just been extended by one day. That’s also good :-). Once again, we walk a long distance through the city to the center and keep hearing “Hello, welcome to Iran” from pedestrians or shopkeepers. First, we visit the Sadosaltaneh Caravanserai, renovated in 2015, which today houses one of the most beautiful traditional covered handicraft and souvenir markets in Iran. We love all the little shops, galleries and creatively designed cafes that can be found here. In contrast to the busy main street, it is also a small oasis of calm inside. 

However, many of the shops have closed today due to the general strike against the government. The building itself is also fascinating, with long arched corridors, beautifully decorated domes, large gateways and cozy courtyards. Incidentally, it is the largest inner-city caravanserai in the Middle East! More about the origin of caravanserai in general, on Wikipedia. We now make a detour to a rather unusual building, the small Russian Orthodox Cantor Church. The next destination is the Chehel Sotun Pavilion, which houses a small calligraphy museum. 

Here we are addressed in German by a young woman named Arezu. She is a doctor and will emigrate to Germany in a few months to complete further medical training and practice as a doctor. So of course, she also learned German. Like many other well-educated young people, she does not see her future in today's Iran. The main reasons for this are a lack of jobs, poor income (€500/month as a general doctor), difficult working conditions, a lack of further training opportunities and few career opportunities. She and her mother accompany us through the museum and offer to show us other sights in the city. We gladly accept the offer. But first we go to a cozy café in the caravanserai, where we have interesting conversations with the two friendly women over tea, baklava and cake. 

Later we visit together the house "Hosseiniyeh Aminiha" which was built in 1858 as part of a 16-part complex. 

A "Hosseiniyeh" is a building in which religious ceremonies and performances are held once a year on the anniversary of Imam Husain's death. This "Hosseiniyeh" consists of three large parallel rooms, which are connected by magnificent and detailed decorated opening windows. The ceilings are artistically decorated with fine paintings and ornaments. Also special is that the house was built symmetrically. A magnificent and very impressive building! Finally, we go to the basement, where the men stayed during the hot summer months. Now we say goodbye to Arezu and her mother. We really enjoyed our time together and learned a lot of interesting things. Such encounters are an enrichment for our trip! We spend the next day visiting many other impressive sights (Wikipedia: Ali Qapu, Tomb of Hamdollah Mostowfi, Tehran Gate, Imam Zadeh Hossein Mosque, Masjed-e atiq Mosque). 

Towards evening we pick up our laundry and retreat to the camper.

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