A Bike Journey

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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. ||…