Iran. first impressions. ...This is Tabriz Barbara!

Before our trip we've read a lot about Iran but reading is one thing and experiencing - another.

Our first stop after crossing border was Tabriz. We got there by three rides directly from the border.

If you're passing through border Dogubayazit/Maku you have the opportunity to see Ararat (5,137 m). no wonder people thought of it as the Holy Mountain, it makes quite an impression. except for Small Ararat, it's the only high mountain around with snow on top all the year round. i think one day we'll come back to climb it.

Ararat - view from Iran

One man in Tabriz told us that Iran is black and white. I managed to see more colors though.

People in Iran are mostly good. We experienced their hospitality but learned to be diplomatic in every situation as well. Bigger problem was with sellers and taxi drivers, they thought that we were awfully rich just because we came from Europe. and they tried to take as much money as they could from us. the rules of trade are the same everywhere.

It's almost impossible to see a couple (even married) holding hands. It only happens in big cities and is very rare. And forget about kissing in public!

I was very concerned about my clothes at the beginning and very careful to be dressed properly. I brought some scarfs, tunics and long thin trousers from Poland and bought a mantoo (as they call it in Iran) when we were in Turkey. And it was ok, sometimes i even rolled my sleeves up to elbow and nobody seemed to care. Even the Police is not very harsh on tourists.

We were so delighted after hitchhiking in Turkey that we tried it in Iran as well. First was a couple that showed us a house one boy started to build for a girl he loved, as they told us. It was digged in the rock, there was a beautiful view of Ararat from the entrance, three rooms inside. The house was unfinished though because the boy died before he managed to finish it. Guy was policeman, they were building their new house in mountains.

After stone house they took back on road to the highway. House was just few km from the border. There we met first foreigner in Iran. He was Canadian guy cycling to Switzerland from Turkmenistan. We had small talk and exchanged maps for our fore-coming trips. We left him great camping map of whole Turkey and he gave us special waterproof touristic map of Iran. After saying goodbye we continued.

Our next ride was a man who wanted us to pay. It was the first time that anyone asked money from us. We had no rials though and luckily Tony managed to convince him that it's possible to travel all the way from Istanbul to Iran for free. That's how we learned that hitchhiking is not quite popular in Iran.

After that another man, who couldn't take us further, came and gave us money to pay to greedy drivers. Luckily one taxi driver took us for free to a spot after police control. It is common in Iran that every now and then there's a control spot where police checks the drivers and their vehicles.

Just after that control spot we stopped a driver in an old tiuck who'd seen us earlier on the road and Martin waved to him like 3 times. He spoke a bit English and told us that his age was the same as his car's - 57 years.

He took us to Tabriz and was so proud of the city. He kept on repeating 'Barbara! This is Tabriz. Tabriz, Tabriz, Taaabriz!' to show me how big it was. He left us in the city but also stopped, took a taxi for us and left us money to pay for it.

That's how we arrived in Tabriz.