Archive for February, 2008
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Adventures in Qom
Under clear blue skies, we scrambled up a rocky path to the top of Khezr mountain. From the peak, the holy city of Qom spread out under our feet, the gleaming gold dome and twin minarets of its famous shrine sparkling in the unusually strong winter sunlight. A single doorway led into the coolness of a tiny mosque, a place of pilgrimage for Muslims seeking help and comfort from Allah. An elderly woman sweeping the entryway looked up with a smile as we stepped inside, only too happy to oblige when Friedel asked for help putting on a chador from the pile available for visitors.
Qom is Iran’s most conservative city – the home of religious clerics and the starting point of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Here, simply wearing a headscarf and covering your arms and legs is not enough to gain entrance to a sacred place. A chador is essential to ensure modesty, a point the woman was keen to drive home as she draped a piece of fabric like a bedsheet over Friedel. It covered everything from head-to-toe in a swathe of black.
“Wear a chador all the time or God will want to know why you haven’t on the day of judgement,” she said with a pointed finger and all the firmness of a mother delivering a lecture to a misbehaving child. (more…)
4 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Journal Entries by andrew
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
98km Deh Shir to Yazd
It was a challenging climb out of our camping spot behind the police station in Deh Shir and up to the top of the mountain range that lies just before Yazd but we couldn’t really complain because the rest of the ride was downhill – a good 80km without turning our pedals around.
Beautiful. Our speedometers topped out at 75km an hour as we flew towards Yazd, cruising into the city in the early afternoon. (more…)
6 Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Iran, Journal Entries by andrew
Monday, February 11th, 2008
110km Feyz Abad to Deh Shir
We waved goodbye to Sassan and family this morning and set off for the last leg of our journey to Yazd, crossing the Abarkuh desert. No sand dunes here, just a barren plain covered in stones and thorny bushes. Occasionally an abandonned castle made of mud and straw appeared to the side of the road but otherwise there was little to see.
If the scenery was a little dull, at least the tailwind helped us speed along the flat desert roads. Today is Revolution Day in Iran, a public holiday marking when Khomeini took control in 1979, and flags lined the streets in the one town we did pass through. We unwittingly rode directly into the centre of a crowd gathering to mark the occasion. The police spotted us before many other people did and diverted us around the group of a few hundred men and women via some side streets. From our brief glimpse of the event, we only saw people standing quietly and listening to a speech, a few with Iranian flags in their hands. (more…)
No Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Iran, Journal Entries by andrew
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
91km Haji Dad to Feyz Abad
“Stop! I am Iranian cycling champion!”
Well, who can refuse an order like that? It certainly beat “hello mister” and was enough to bring Friedel to a screeching halt beside the man on a motorbike, who was frantically waving his arms by the side of the road. Andrew, who didn’t quite hear the opening line and assumed another of those unintelligable conversations in Farsi was taking place, reluctantly stopped a few meters ahead.
“You must come to my house. Come to my home. See my guestbook. Please, please.” (more…)
No Comments » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Iran, Journal Entries by andrew
Friday, February 8th, 2008
71km Sa’adat Shahr to Haji Dad
Our police-sanctioned campsite wasn’t the quietest last night with trucks rumbling by throughout the night but we couldn’t knock the perks. The men working at the station brought us apples and showed us to the hot shower in the morning. What a treat to be able to wash off some road dirt, something we hadn’t expected until we reach Yazd in another four or five days.
A short distance down the road we reached Pasargarda, perhaps only second to Persepolis in the list of Iran’s most impressive archaeological sites. To tell the truth, we found it a bit underwhelming. The main attraction – the tomb of Cyrus the Great – is covered in scaffolding and other parts of the site are largely in ruins. Our guidebook says a large section of ancient columns were removed in 1971 so the then Shah could put in a helicopter landing pad for a party. How self-absorbed and what a shame for history! We found a smaller road to follow in the afternoon and it took us steadily upwards for quite a few kilometers through very remote territory. The ascent and a headwind made the pedalling hard work and by the time we found a spot for our tent in the late afternoon we were fairly tired. Supper was gobbled up quickly and then thoughts turned to our route tomorrow.
Our map shows a shortcut that would save us a day but after our experience up the goat track we’re sceptical about whether or not the road actually exists. We’ll have to seek local advice and maybe this time we’ll listen!
