Day 44-50 Iran I

We crossed the border to Iran on 20th of December at Bazargan. We finished all papers to leave turkey and waited in front of an iron gate. The gate opened and gave view on a yard with a building to the left. From a poster on the wall, Ayathollah Khomeni looked at us with a grim face. But this shall be the only bad impression in the first days in Iran. Instead, we experienced an outstanding hospitality towards strangers.
We passed the gate and a soldier appeared  He checked my passport, smiled, shaked my hand and said "Welcome to Iran". What a great start so far! Of course, to get the final entrance permission and all stamps costed us more time and 5$ for an "adviser" but in the end, it was easier than expected.
Anyway, we spend half a day at the border and after three hours of driving, we stopped in a little village called "Hacilar". As there was no restaurant, i decided to heat up some canned food. While preparing my gas cooker, two cars stopped and asked us me in Farsi if we need a place to stay or food. With hand and feet, I told them that we will stay in the car but a restaurant would be nice. The man did not hesitate and drove with me to the next city. There he ordered takeaway-food for me, refused any money, payed for me and even showed me the way back.

Unbelievable!

Me just being happy about the great welcome in Iran

But it got even better. Back in Hacilar, we ate our dinner, when the owner of the house we parked in front approached to us. I expected him to want us to leave. But instead, he said it is way too cold outside and invited us to stay in his house for the night. As it was -14°C, we accepted his offer. The Iranian people celebrated "Yalda" this night. It is a celebration of the days getting longer and the dark gets defeats by the light.
Also because of Yalda, a lot of relatives were called and soon, we sat among a huge family, enjoying sweets and tried to make some conversations. Its was just an great night, and in the morning, they helped us changing money and buying food and SIM-Cards for our phones.

Having a great Yalda

Getting ready for bed

We drove on to Tabriz, where we met Hardi from Couchsurfing and his Cousin Ali. The next day we visited the bazaar of Tabriz. As the bazaar of Aleppo has been destroyed, the one in Tabriz is said to be the biggest in the world. It shall have more than 5000 shops on 25km of ways. I could not determine whether this is right or wrong as I lost orientation pretty quick. Our friend Ali owns a shop for used nomadic products and he teached us a lot about carpets and carpet making. I really enjoyed the time with him as he is an amazing  person: kind and decent towards everyone without any prejudges.

The carpet market of the bazaar

Hardi, Ali and Ben (from the left to the right) in Alis shop

Spices and fruits everywhere

Sorrily, i got a little ill. Maybe I ate something wrong. My stomach made some troubles and continued to do so until second day of Christmas. Ali took cared for me heartwarming.
Two days later, we left Tabriz for Kandovan. The city resembles Göreme in Turkey but the people really life in their rock-/stonehouses up to the present day.

Kandovans rock cut houses

The same day, we reached Urmia. We spent Christmas in a hotel and i could recover and get well. Thank you for your patience, Ben.

Christmas dinner: I was still a little sick, but at least well dressed

After one week in Iran, first things can be stated... the Iranians are usually very good educated. Way more people speak english compared to Turkey. And the traffic is even worse than Albania.  Therefore, the hospitality is better then i ever experienced. Absolutely amazing.

Day 37-43: Turkey II

Lenard accompanied me on my journey to the East. We drove to Samsun where Ben joined us again to visit the Black Sea Coast. To be honest, I was disappointed about the Black Sea. Maybe because of the December weather giving a grim impression, maybe because of the great time in Istanbul but most certainly because of the highway along the coast, there was no natural beauty for me.

 

 

  

Considered as one of the touristic hot spots of Turkey, all the beaches are wasted because the 4-lane highway is never more than 100 meters away and keeps the traffic noise on a constant level. What a mess! Furthermore, a lot of the beaches were covered with trash. You can describe it as dreary.

And finally, a lot of the people didn't like strangers... especially Germans. I had to discuss for one hour until a shop sold me snow chains. Before, any business was refused with the words "Merkel problem".

But I had a good time anyway as we met some wonder full people and nice places too, further away from the sea. For example, visiting the Monastery Sumela feels like a winter fairy tale. We couldn't visit the place itself due to construction works. Anyway, I was too busy with enjoying the scenary to be disappointed.

The beautiful view on the way to Sumela Monastery, which was build in the 4th century

And there are Khaled and Abdullah in Rize. Both are Egyptian students studying in Turkey. They did not avoid any effort to find a shower for us. As we were not allowed to enter their students dorm and hotels insisted to be payed the full price of a room for one shower, they brought us to an Imam school up in the hills. There we met Imam Ibrahim and his friends.

He offered an amazing hospitality. We could shower and had a wonder full evening in this multi-cultural gathering. The mixture of Muslims and Christians, Turkish, Kurdish, Egyptian an German people was delighting.

In Ayder, we found a winter wonder land, similar to the alps in Austria. Muhammet offered us to sleep in his warm cafe and we had a lot of fun with his friends. The best experience was the sledge ride towed by an old Land Rover with a maniac driver. In the morning, we visited the hot springs. Being the only visitors in the hot water, it was pure joy to forget the cold winter outside.

Thank you very much, Khaled, Abdullah and Muhammet.

Ayder: Snow like in the Alps

At the most eastern side of the Turkish Black Sea coast, we wanted to enter Georgia for one day but the traffic jam in front of the border dismissed our plans.

We drove on to Kars because Lenard needed to get his flight back to Istanbul. The way to Kars led trough an icy desert. The temperatures far below zero and nothing but white mountains, it was monotone but impressive at the same time.

In Kars, we got hosted by Mustafa. I think he may saved hour lives as his apartment was warm while the temperature outside reached -30°C in the night. At midnight, I started my car and let it warm up again as i feared a damage from the cold. Thank you for this advice Mustafa! You saved my engine. In the morning, the car started at -24°C after 30 seconds, pedal to the metal and with black smoke suitable for a steam locomotive. I'm in love my Land Cruiser.

Lenard and I said good bye at Kars Airport and I drove to Dogubayazit, the last Turkish city before reaching the Iranian border.

Day 30-36 Turkey I

I crossed the border to Turkey without any complications and followed the highway in eastern direction.
Istanbul welcomed me according to all the typical prejudges. I was in a traffic jam for half an hour until i reached a traffic sign that announced the outskirts of Istanbul. Not considering the change in the time zone, I arrived perfectly for the rush hour. The remaining 40km to my destination took me 3 more hours. Uff.
Finally I reached the shared flat of Lenard in Kardiköy. Lenard (yes, the name is similar) is a friend from my bachelor studies. During his master studies, he does one semester abroad and lives together with Mustafa. Mustafa is a super nice guy, studying engineering.
All three together, we explored the city in the next days and i found a good friend in Mustafa. He did an excellent job showing me the beauty of Istanbul and I fell in love with the city. Thank you so much!

The famous blue mosque Sultan Ahmed

Galata Tower

Mustafa, Lenard and me (from the left to the right)

The mixture of the different districts, each with a unique character, is astonishing. All the important central areas can be reached by public transport ships crossing the Bosporus. 

This somehow resembles Venice, but provides a more authentic feeling. Of course, there are the crowded touristic places too as the blue mosque (it is called "Sultan Ahmed" here) and the Hagia Sophia, but there are also a lot of less famous places as "Valide Han". It is kind of an old  bazaar. Apart of some old workshops, all the other shops are closed. The true beauty is revealed on the crumbly unsecured rooftop, which offers an amazing view on the area around the Galata Tower, especially during sunset. In a hidden corner, you can even find an old weaving machine left behind.

Valide Han

Forgotten weaving machine

Street art is everywhere... in Kardiköy too.

Istanbul has so many faces. There are traditional things as the tea culture, which I admire a lot. They have street art and especially in Kardiköy, you can find good bars to have a great party.

But some bad things happened too. We passed the Vodafone Arena only 5 hours before the bomb exploded at the 10th December. It is a really sad story but in the next day the Istanbul people kept going like nothing happened. I was very impressed by their strong will and courage.

Day 28-30: Greece

I was in Greece several times before, but usually on the southern coast line. When i crossed the border at "Sagiada", I cheered: 23°C in the sun and blue sky. That's how I know Greece!

I thought they were joking :D

On the highway, I laughed about the snow-warning signs. Unfortunately, the conditions changed. I drove through a long tunnel and on the other end, I could barely see 15m because of dense fog. The fog ended shortly ahead of Meteora, the famous monasteries on the rocks. Right before darkness, I could visit the first of the six maintained monasteries. For the night, I stayed in the hills. The morning sun greeted with an amazing view on the monolithic pillars.

Two hundred meters further, I had some French/Spanish neighbours. The couple was on the way to Mongolia with their beautiful Renault expedition truck.

The Monasteries are nice, but the spirit of ascetic solitude is mostly lost. I met a Australian family with Greek and Russian roots. Together, we visited the other abbeys. Unfortunately, the one in the James Bond "For your eyes only"/"In tödlicher Mission" was closed due to restoration works.

Nick and Anastasia with their lovely family

I drove on to my next destination: Kavala. The city is known for its castle and the aqueduct, but there is also a nice bar scene. Even during the week, the pubs are busy. So I set priorities and started with discovering the bars. The next morning, I got up early and visited the castle, which offers a great view over the city and its at least 400 year old aqueduct. 

Too early for some inhabitants of Kavala... meooow

The famous aqueduct of Kavala

Kavala is a lovely city, but as a friend was waiting for me in Istanbul, I decided to go on.

Day 25-28: Albania

We entered Albania at 7 o’clock in the morning. Ben wanted to hit the road as fast as possible. The first kilometres showed us a really beautiful landscape: huge mountains, rough cliffs and lakes in the valleys. 50km before Tirana, we stopped o split up. Ben wanted to rush through Albania and Greece to have more time for Turkey. And my priorities were just the other way round.

I drove up in the north to Teth National Park. The road got worse when I left the highway but in the Nation Park, they build brand new serpentines. Up on the pass, the road ended and a gravel path with rough stones continued. 

Compared to Bosnia, this was way more difficult. 16km took me more than an hour, but it was fun. The great view on the mountains compensated for the exhausting drive. Finally I arrived in Teth. The town is really small. Pigs and sheeps ran free along the road and it felt like time stands still in this peaceful valley. 

When I tried to drive a little further, the road ended in a mass of rocks. It looked like the river just expanded its bed as wide as the valley. 

I returned to the rough road and made my way to arrive in Tirana. My timing was perfect: 5PM, rush hour. The driving discipline got way worse. On each crossroad and each entrance to a roundabout, a police officer was needed to organise the chaos. Fortunately, I made it into the city centre without an accident. It took me only 2 hours :D

Tirana is a pretty modern city. In the evening, many bars and cafes are illuminated in all colours to gather attention. At daytime, the wide roads and alleys are quite impressive. And the number of building sites too… they build new buildings everywhere.

Leaving Tirana was way easier and faster. The highways are for free and in good shape. I visited Appolonia, an old Greek and Roman city at sunset. 

In the dark, I drove to Vlore. It is a really rich and modern city. In summer, there are a lot of tourists in the countless number of apartment buildings but in December, I could hardly find an open sea food restaurant. At “Ristorante San Giorgio Al Porto”, I found a place with delicious fish and good wine.

After a night near a pier, I followed the coastal road. The hills south of Vlore are a beautiful contrast to the caribbean-like cyan blue water. And they hide some wasted bunkers which are quite spooky. 

Finally, I arrived at Gjipe Beach, a unique place: A deep canyon leads from the mountains to the sea, opening for a beautiful beach enclosed by cliffs. And the temperature was even warm enough to jump in the sea on my completely private beach! 

 

I believed that you could only reach the beach by foot but got proofed wrong when I arrived. A big truck stood in the canyon and I found a “path” wide enough to drive. Following the path was already difficult by foot. It was way worse than Bosnia and Teth National Park. The rocks showed scratches of bottomed cars. Up on the hill, I found a wrecked Land Cruiser, rotting as a silent warning. Stupid me thought I should give it a try:

In 30 minutes, I made the 3km down to the beach. With all the happiness and adrenalin rush, I wanted to get the best spot as parking place… and digged in my car at the beach. This made me miss the sunset while I tried to bring my car back on solid ground. 

I found a small hut, alike Robinson-Crusoe-style with drinking water next to it. Behind the hut was a garden with many citrus fruits and olive trees. Ienjoyed my personal paradise for one evening. 

In the morning, I left the canyon and drove south to the Greece border. Before leaving Albania, I spend my last Albanian Leks on a car wash: 400Lek~3€. That’s pretty fair for vacuuming, prewash with water, shampoo, cleaning with water and rubbing dry by hand :)

All in all, Albania was a great adventure. In the future, the beautiful nature here will most likely make me return to these places.