This post is for the benefit of other travellers who are considering their options about obtaining a visa for India. We have met several people in this situation, and as there doesn’t seem to be much information about this on the internet, we decided to post our experiences. This information is current as of December 2010 and obviously only reflects our own experiences. || When we planned our bike trip from London to Melbourne, we had hoped to get our Indian visa in Turkey, but this turned out not to be feasible. As of summer 2010, new regulations…
A Bike Journey
10 Tips for Cycling Iran
We spent almost two months in Iran and covered 2,300km by bicycle in the country. We entered Iran from Turkey at Maku and passed through Tabriz, Esfahan and Shiraz before we left by ferry from Bandar Abbas. Here are our top 10 tips for cycling in Iran. 1. Organise your visa in advance. It is currently not possible to get a visa on arrival. Arrange your visa in advance, e.g. through www.iranianvisa.com or www.stantours.com, then pick it up from an Iranian embassy. If you are passing through Turkey, Istanbul is an easy place…
Bandar Abbas to Dubai by Ferry
From Bandar Abbas, we were planning to take a ferry to Dubai. As well as the story of our crossing, this post also contains some practical information for other travellers wishing to do the same.|| We visited a travel agency in Bandar Abbas to buy our ferry tickets. There are a couple of agencies on the main street that sell these tickets – we used Bala Parvaz Travel Agency, which is opposite Ghods Hotel. At time of writing, the tickets cost US $100 each. We had to show our passports and make our payment in Iranian Rials.
Iran: Filling in the Gaps
While we published some blog posts during our time in Iran, we also wrote quite a few posts that included material which the authorities may have taken offence to. After a couple of encounters with the secret police early in our trip, we decided not to post these blogs whilst in the country. Over the last week or so we have backdated and published all the “missing” posts, listed below in chronological order.|| We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures, from exploring desert cities and the ancient ruins of Persepolis, to sleeping in highway underpasses,…
Downhill to the Persian Gulf
Shiraz – Bandar Abbas After Shiraz, the scenery changed, and whilst it was still very arid, we often came across small oases featuring a bunch of palm trees and often a well to access the ground water. Farming relied heavily on irrigation, and throughout the desert we saw evidence of qanats, as well as circular cisterns that were used as water reservoirs before the advent of more practical pipes. Date palms became ubiquitous, and dates were now the gift of choice from the locals.|| Just in time for our first break…
8,000km Photo
Leaving Shiraz, we also left cooler climes behind us. Over 6 days and 600km, we dropped over 1,500m in altitude until we ended up back at sea level when we hit the Persian Gulf at Bandar Abbas. For the last three months since leaving Istanbul we had always been at high altitude, never dropping below 1,000m as we cycled on the Anatolian Plateau in Turkey and along the Zagros mountain range in Iran. || The photo was taken on our first day out of Shiraz, where the arid land became dotted with date palms, orange groves and cotton…
Extreme Hospitality, Desert Camps and Ancient Cities
Esfahan – Shiraz After two weeks off the bikes, we were keen to get going again. We had a quick breakfast with Mike and Jo, a New Zealand couple cycling from Beijing to Paris, then we were on our way. To our relief, the traffic south of Esfahan was a lot lighter than it had been in the north of Iran, so we actually enjoyed the cycling. Coming out of the city centre we had a steep hill climb. Looking back we noticed three Iranian cyclists approaching. They didn’t speak much English but we understood they were part of a…
Yazd: A Silk Road City
Between all our sightseeing and souvenir shopping, we had one important task to accomplish in Esfahan: to renew our Iranian visa. This was more straightforward than we had expected, and our application, much to our surprise, was processed on the spot. Thinking it was in the bag we were suddenly summoned to Room 3. Entering the room with some trepidation we were quickly put at ease when we uncovered their motivation for seeing us: they wanted at least five Australian idioms as one of the officers was a lover of Australian sayings. Unfortunately the police officers had so much fun…
Kashan: Historial Houses and Beautiful Beards
We took a bus to Kashan, a small town north of Esfahan on the edge of the Dasht-e Kavir desert, which is famous for its restored traditional houses and relaxed atmosphere – something we haven’t had much of during our time in Iran. We tentatively left the bikes behind in our hotel in Esfahan, hoping they would still be intact on our return a couple of days later. || It felt rather novel to take the bus (or the “Super Classic Saloon”) for a three hour jaunt through the desert, a trip that would have taken us three days on…
Esfahan: Half the World
In Esfahan we found a hotel not far from the Si-O-Seh Bridge. We quickly unpacked, showered and went in search of a restaurant with servings to match the immense hunger which we had accumulated from days on the road with depleting food supplies. Esfahan, a Unesco World Heritage site, challenges the likes of Rome and Athens on a cultural level but when it comes to culinary experience, well it’s up there with Bruce’s Midnight Burgers. We stocked up on the usual chicken and rice but were blown away to have the extra indulgence of a fresh green salad. ||…