Silk Route

Day 53 - Wed 07 May 08

Esfahan -> Tehran

Today has been fun, up to do some Internet research on hotels in Tehran, in the end got the guy who ran the Internet cafe to ring my chosen hotel in Tehran. Yes they have a room and they will save it for me. After that I walk up to Iman Square and pay 5000R to visit the Pavilion, the views over the square are nice, but there's a dust storm outside the city so views into the distance are limited.

5000R gets me into the main mosque at the end of the square, they have erected a series of covers in the main open air area of the mosque which kind of ruins all attempts at pictures. I guess it's there to protect the worshipers. The main dome inside the mosque has a neat trick. If you stand directly underneath it the echo is amazing, and just keeps going!

I then attempted to find a palace, but I couldn't locate it, so a taxi gets me down to the river to see the bridges. Took a very pleasant stroll down the riverside park and back to my favoured inter net cafe. Printed out some info about Turkey, my next destination. Checked out of my hotel and took a taxi down to the train station. Trouble is my driver thought I was taking the bus to Tehran, so I ended up in the bus station. After a LONG drive around the ring road we end up at the train station. Which has moved since the LP was printed, and is now to the south of the city quite close to the southern bus station!

Anyway I'm on the train now, and I meet up with a Kiwi who is cycling from Ireland to Singapore and then flying home. He thinks it will take about a year. The train was a little slow but we got to Tehran on time. Then it was a taxi to the closest metro station. I headed off to find my hotel but due to some error on my behalf I end up at a totally different hotel, but they have a room so I cut my losses and take it! In bed by 23:00!