Taste Of Cherry - طعم گيلاس

Tehran & Taste of eggplants and fashion

2008-08-20T15:52:00.004+02:00

After a quick stay in Tabriz, here we are in Tehran.

We have not been writing here for a few days because we have been literally overwhelmed by the fantastic Iranian hospitality of Reza, Madhie and Lena and there were always things to do. It is great, after five plus week on the road to get to a place where it feels like home. There could have been no better conclusion to this journey.

It was also a welcome relief for Giulia's stomach, who had been eating the Iranian eggplant-based dish for way too long... (and this was not out of masochism, but more often than not it was the only available veggie option in any restaurant we went)

We have been hanging out with locals, watched the very fashionable Teheranians strut their handbags, scarves and high-heeled shoes in shopping centers and coffee shops, met some acquaintances we had done on the road in Iran, and of course visited a few museums in town (Golestan Museum, National Museum, and the glitzy and fascinating Jewels Museum).

We also spent a lot of time learning about the last 30 years of Iran from Reza and Madhie; overall in this trip we learned so many things about Iran I don't know where to start from (hopefully this blog gives a feeling for it).... For sure we both now wish to spend some time with the Iranian acquaintances we have at home to talk about (and more than before we learned not to believe what you read on your favourite Western media)

Many things to carry home as we will board our flights back to Italy in a few hours....

Gotta go now, while I am blogging here from Faraz's bedroom, Giulia is fashion-shopping like a true Teheranian with Lena....

Northwestern Iran

2008-08-14T14:15:00.002+02:00

We are in Northwestern Iran right now.

We arrived in Qazvin and the after we went to Masuleh, which according to the LP
is one of the highlights of Iran, but it is actually a very disappointing village in the mountains,
please DO NOT GO there if have the choice.

The day after we visited Qazvin with a very nice Iranian architecture student that as usual we met on the street. He took us around and we had very enjoyable time together, speaking about arts and Iranian politics.

We left Qazvin and went to Soltanyeh, a huge mausoleum with the third largest dome in the world, unfortunately it was under restauration...The driver that took us there was with a friend that apparently knew everything about western phylosophy and arts, he knew Dante, Protagoras, Derrida, Pasolini and so on...

We then arrived in Zanjan, a very ugly city, but at least with the wonderful Takth e Soleyman ruins nearby. At night when we were having dinner we incredibly met the second Iranian in the same day who knew Dante (actually we fell very ignorant...), and even quoted some verses in Italian to us...

As told, Takht e Soleyman is really really beautiful, with an amazing vulcanic lake amidst the ruins, if you have the chance this a truly not to be missed place!

Tomorrow we leave for Tabriz and then we will continue to Teheran, where we will be hosted by an Iranian family (merci Dena, merci Mazyar!!!!:-))...

To top it off, here in Zanjan we are sleeping in the same hotel as the coach of the Iranian national rugby team, who is from New Zealand, a pretty nice fellow who telling us that rugby has not been banned for 5 or 6 years. They also made big efforts to convince the Iranian government that rugby had nothing to do with US traditional sports...So Iranian rugby players are really beginners but promising as he was telling us.

Now we have to face the main problem of the day: finding something acceptlable to eat for dinner...And it won t be an easy task...(Yes, Iranian cuisine- at least the restaurant one- cannot be defined as delicious... )

Iranian people and no inspiration (?)

2008-08-11T17:35:00.003+02:00

Well...Actually we are not very inspired today, just because we did not do much yesterday...

Just went around with these two girls (very smart and modern) to see a bathouse and the bird garden in Isfahan. During the night we went out for dinner with some Iranian-Italian friends we have already mentioned...Basically for once we took it easy...

We must say that here people are very curious about us as tourists and almost every day we discuss with a few people, mostly young ones who are tipically very very modern. This country is definitely a big surprise: it is very different from how it is depicted on our own western media, especially regarding women condition. We never felt in danger and we always feel very welcomed, Iranian hospitality is just great: sometimes people go out of their way just to help you or to give you a ride to some place without asking for anything in exchange.

Another striking aspect, is that basically everyone has been asking us what do we think about Iran: Iranians, at least the educated ones, are very aware of the image that western goverments are projecting of them and very often they sadly ask us "Why did you come to Iran since everyone in the West thinks we are terrorists?"... In fact the lack of western tourism is very evident.

Needless to say we think Iran is a great place to visit, very complex and interesting to explore and discover...so Anita, you made the right choice!;-)

In the end, it seems we are more inspired than we thought...

Esfahan soap opera...

2008-08-09T15:11:00.003+02:00

Today we are still in Esfahan visiting the most impressive sights in the city, that are the ones arounf Imam Square: Imam Mosque and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, whose domes are simply wonderful! Another not to be missed sight is the Hasht Behesht Palace (8 Paradises Palace in persian).

We also keep doing strange encounters, two very nice Iranian girls with whom we are probably going to spend the day tomorrow and a couple of Iranian guides who guided us for free at some point. It is definitely a highlight of the trip meeting all sorts of Iranian people.

We have also booked the night train Tabritz-Teheran (170000 rials, 12 hours), for the night between the 16th and the 17th.
The bus Esfahan-Teheran cost instead 50000 rials amd it is supposed to take 6 hours (by the way we are doing Esfahan-Teheran and Teheran-Qazvin in the same day changing bus in Teheran, well let you know if interested).

For those curious about soap opera, just be patient for a couple of weeks;-)

Tourism and masochism, with an happy ending

2008-08-08T22:32:00.003+02:00

Finally in Esfahan (for Anita: after a 7 hour bus drive from Shiraz 50000rials), which is supposed to be the most beautiful city in Iran...It seems to be, with its beautiful bridges and mosques...

However we had a couple of disappointments today: first of all DO NOT GO to shaking minarets a bizarre attraction(?) consisting in a guy climbing into a minaret and trying to rock it back and forth, it is not worth even the cheap ticket.

After that we climbed a hill with our flip flops to see the ruins of a Zoroastrian temple on the top, we decided that this was our last zoroastrian temple of the trip.

After that we went for a walk along the reknown Isfahan bridges longing for a cup of tea, but unfortunately all the teahouses near those bridges have been shut down by the government because there were too many unmarried couples hanging out there.

We also saw the cemetery of those dead in Iran-Irak war, it was pretty interesting, and a Savafid palace in the centre of the town.

We recovered from all delusions of the day by going to Jolfa, the Armenian quarter of the city which is actually the liveliest part of Isfahan, with plenty of cofee shops and young Iranians. We were eating our pizzas (Iranians seem to dig pizzas) we met an Iranian Italian from Piacenza and his Iranian friend. It was cool to see an Iranian speaking Italian with the Emilian accent. He was really nice and he told us many interesting things about the country, forbidden music, marriage tradition and alcohol.

Our impression is more and more that plenty of people basically do what they want especially in big cities. We wonder how much the current status will last.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Imam square and sorroundings and are looking forward to more encounters.

Wine, dissent and fast food in shiraz

2008-08-06T20:21:00.003+02:00

Now we are in Shiraz, here everyone seems to be unhappy about Iran.

We met a bunch of girls of bahai religion who told us that they are constantly discriminated and they also complained that there is nothing to do at night in Iran for young people, except going to fast food restaurant and drive around...The same night we were looking for a coffee shop to hang out, we met an Iranian guy who drove us to one one of them but he could not join us because he was going to have a date with his girlfriend: the date consisted in driving her around since as he told us "Iranian girls, only speak". Anyway we entered the coffee shop which is actually a very western style fast food where everyone is dressed up as for a big night out, girls are heavily made up and boys have Hollywood haircuts. Everything looked very comical and a little bit sad...

The town of Shiraz is nice even if we were expecting something more, don t miss the bazaar which is really cool, even if traffic and pollution are terrible...Today we went to Persepolis which is much smaller than we thought, but quite impressive.

By the way, we are really really surprised by the lack of western tourists: even in Persepolis which is supposed to be one of the main attraqctions of Iran we hardly saw any of them. Please come to Iran!!

We also reserved our Shiraz-Esfahan bus tickets at Pars Travel on Zand street, they are really efficient and they seem to provide Iranian visa as well, for western tourists.

And finally we are writing as we have just come back from the house of an Iranian family that invited us for dinner, basically after meeting us in the street. They were extremely kind and we really enjoyed their company. We also found out that they watch Italian and European satellite TV where tehre s more naked women than ever. We wonder which idea they have about western culture...

Kerman and Mahan

2008-08-04T07:21:00.002+02:00

We are in Kerman now, ready to leave for Shiraz by bus (55000 rials and 8 hours).

Kerman is a very nice village with almost no tourism after Bam earthquake...
Almost all tourists stay in our hotel: Akhavan, where the two brothers managing the place
speak good english and help arraging every kind of tour.

In the teahouse in the bazaar, we met an english speaking guide, Hosseini, who later brought us to wach some bizarre Iranian ritual sport, he organises trips to desert nere here...

Yesterday we went to see Mahan and Rayen, which have beatiful gardens and citadel and are a good reason to come here in spite of the fact that Bam has been destroyed.

We also saw Kaluts, which is an Iranian version of the monument valley.

Important!!! Yesterday night we discovered that the new LP editions of Iran has been published,
it must be really really recent because one month before leaving the only verision around was the one of 2004: probably all the mistakes we are listing have been corrected in this new edition.

After all it is not too hot, differently from what a few people told us.

Backgammon and inexistent monuments

2008-08-01T13:56:00.002+02:00

Today we are still in Yazd, strange but true, visiting the rest of the town and taking it easy...

We spent the morning in the old town where we discovered that two not-to-be-missed sights

according to LP (Hosseinieh and Madreseh-e-Kamalieh), where simply an invention of the drunk author of the guide as the lady at information point desk explained us.

Then we went to visit an ancient caravanserai 60 km far away from the town, the place (Caravanserai Zein-o-Din) is really well preserved and is now set up as a hotel and restaurant,

where you can really imagine how it felt to stop by in the silk road times. We went there for a tea and ended up playing backgammon with the Iranian staff of the hotel, which of course played much better than us:-)

We are in our way at Kerman tomorrow, by bus (40000 rial, 6 hours).

By the way, more than usually here in Iran tourists are very badly dressed,
especially women, as they generally exaggerate in their compliance of the hejab...

First tastes of Iran: Mashhad, Qom, Kashan, Yazd

2008-07-31T16:50:00.002+02:00

So. Finally we are in Iran, and there would be so much to write that I guess only a few glimpses are possible.

Iranians are very friendly, and seem always attracted by the possibility of practicing their English, so basically we meet people all the time. There are so many similarities between Iranians and Italians it is difficult even to start......
We have also ended up reversing the direction of the itinerary (we are now going north to south), which contributes to the trip being even more eventful.

Two days ago we arrived in Mashhad, the city of the Imam Reza shrine. We were overwhelmed at first by the amount of pilgrims in what is one of the holiest cities of Islam, masses of pilgrims and all women in chador (also Giulia has to borrow one). It is impressive and probably difficult for us to fully understand phenomenon like this, were there is explicit grief for someone dead more than 1000 years ago.
Note that if you are a foreigner you can contact the upfront and they guide you around for free, and even give you books for free, a very nice experience we truly recommend. Unfortunately, the current edition of Lonely Planet makes no mention of this.

But we were also taken away by the complexity of the matter of the veiled women.
The veil does not seem to prevent women to share feminine chitchat and jokes, as our fully veiled guide was doing with Giulia.
The veil also does not prevent at all some even flashy display of femininity, as we could see that same night at the Mashhad airport, with women wearing a skimpy veil, high heels, pink tops, heavy makeup, and thick eyeliners.

We also needed to leave Mashhad somehow, and due to the number of pilgrims our options were limited. We ended up in a nice travel agency, where we quickly became the local attraction (somehow they wanted us to go to Damascus), and found out it was impossible to fly to the south of the country as we originally planned.... so we decided on the fly to invert everything, fly to Teheran and proceed southwards....

We have no time to tell about the ride to the airport with the funniest Afghan taxi driver, who complained about Iran not giving him a driver licence at the same time as bumping into the car behind him (that was something hilarious).... and even less time about the young enterpreneur we met at the airport who very openly started to talk trash of all the current limitations of social life in Iran, and promised to invite us to some great house party in Teheran....

In the end, we took this night fly with Fars Air to Teheran, and from there a taxi to Qom (20 euros), another holy city with a pecular atmosphere, full of religious students from everywhere, from Iran to Pakistan

From there, we took another ride to Kashan (about 15 euros), a wonderful city of garden, teahouses, and traditional houses. We also went to Abyaneh, mysteriously mentioned by the Lonely Planet as a wonder of the world, but in reality just ok.
We noticed in Kashan that the time of green tea is over, and only black tea is now served. Maybe this is the only true border between Central Asia and Middle East...

We came then today to Yazd, again by taxi (35 euros), a beautiful old town we are starting to enjoy...

To Mashhad

2008-07-28T21:49:00.001+02:00

By the way, we are in Mashhad, Iran, right now...

This morning we left Turkmenistan driving from Mary to the Turkmen-Iranian border. We said a few goodbyes to Mr Merdan & to Andrew, and right away we started to see the more delicate facial features of the Persians at the border post.

We hitched a ride with an Iranian truck driver to cross the few kms of no man's land between the two countries, until we finally arrived at the Iranian border. They did not really check our luggage, but some guy checked Lorenzo's face against the pictures in his passport for a good five minutes (you always feel strange when you are afraid someone might question that you are not yourself.....)

Iran looked immediately different from Central Asia, better roads and better cars. We found some taxi driver to bring us to Mashhad for 20 euros. We stopped on the way at some shop or tea-house, where we immediately bumped into another taxi driver who was speaking in Italian (he had fled Iran after the revolution a long time ago and had lived in Venice....).

After some more time, some more lovely Iranian music, and after the taxi driver shared his tobacco pipe with us (Giulia declined the offer), we finally arrived, on what turned out to be a day of religious celebration, to the holy city of Mashhad.

Same same but different

2008-07-28T18:59:00.004+02:00

Gotta spend a few words on a our travel companions in Turkmenistan (the only way to travel the country is with an organized tour with a guide)...

First of all, we have to mention Andrew, an Australian-Egyptian guy who has been travelling around the world for many months now, always with a take-it-easy & take-your-time (mainly) attitude that we loved.
Unfortunately, in the short period we spent together he has been involved in a series of issues with visas & related.... We hope everything gets sorted out soon!
Finally, Andrew is also a philosophical guru (Giulia is the first adept), spreading the "same same, but different" philosophy around the world.

Then we had Paul, a very nice British fellow who was riding is motorbike through Europe, Russia, Central Asia and then back to Europe.
We shared only a few days with him, but we'll look forward to hear about his return home.

Last but not least, there was our guide. For some reason, Lorenzo was initially expecting a sort of Miss Turkmenistan to be our guide. Instead, we got Mr Merdan.
Nonetheless he was a really great guy, about to move to Switzerland, and who spoke about Turkmen history with a very passionate tone ("can you imagine?")

PS - Andrew, as soon as you read this post, please let us know if you are in jail or still roaming free!

PPS - Andrew, did you speak with Antonina?

Blogging in Turkmenistan

2008-07-28T18:55:00.002+02:00

There was some silence on this blog for a while.... sorry about that :-)

The reason turns out to be that Turkmenistan filters www.blogger.com, i.e. in Turkmenistan it is not possible to write blogs like this one or even read them (and my poor hacking attempts failed miserably as I am definitely a poor hacker); definitely a shameful thing for an otherwise very lovely country.

Gotta catch up now with a few posts on the last few days....

Khiva & preparing for Turkmenistan

2008-07-22T12:53:00.002+02:00

Quick last post from Uzbekistan... been here in Khiva for 1 day & 1/2 after coming here with a 6 hour car ride through the desert (85000 sums for 3 people).

Stayed in a so-so guesthouse where the manager's young daughter, probably because she is explicitely mentioned in the Lonely Planet (Barno), feels like a superstar & does not excel in sympathy.... (been missing our wonderful Bukhara guesthouse)

This is our last day in Uzbekistan & tomorrow we are crossing the border to Turkmenistan (where probably Internet access will be more erratic). We are quite curious about the many oddities we have been reading on Turkmenistan...

It has also been one week on the road, after which we are getting used to the scorching heat, we have been meeting a few cool people, and somehow we are still standing each other :-)

(written in Khiva)

Bukhara & a few encounters

2008-07-21T15:27:00.004+02:00

Writing from a snail-slow desktop in Khiva right now...

Arrived earlier in Khiva from Bukhara, where we spent two days. Bukhara was the best so far, a legendary Silk Road hub with amazing monument and the charming feel of a real town. Can't beat watching the sunset light in front of the Kalon Minaret, one of the most beautiful small squares you can happen to visit.

Another highlight of Bukhara was our guesthouse, Akhbar House, where the owner was a lady of infinite kindness that pampers the guests with pots of tea, fresh fruit & snacks at any time of the day. Giulia was literally adopted by this lady, who ended up sharing with her the most classical femate chit-chats while we were lazying around over there yesterday afternoon.

The lady's husband is a collector of sort, and the guesthouse also doubles as an improvised museum of clothes, gems, pottery & the like. This triggered another interesting encounter yesterday night with two Italian ladies from Milan (and they were the most stereotypical Milan ladies....). Giulia was again under the spotlight with one of the ladies starting after about 5 seconds of conversation a comparison with his own daughter ("also my daughter did this", "also my daughter did that", etc...). Worth noting that Lorenzo was completely excluded from the conversation, most likely being exchanged for either Giulia's driver, guide or similar...

Loved also the small museum of Bukhara, where Lorenzo saw a remarkable Tajik beauty, and where Uzbek clothes have been tried on us (thus realizing the "modeling career in Asia" omen)

To the 3 ladies from Ferrara (if you ever bump into this blog): we did try to look for Cafe Mazza, but it was always closed.... Evidently enjoying the profits from your frequent visits!

Finally, we also met Andrew at random in front of some monument, after having exchanged a few emails. Andrew is travelling with us into Turkmenistan.

Last but not least, when already here, we had heard two days ago some random infos on some explosion happening in Bukhara, but in practice there were no signs of it at all, and everything was good!

Tomorrow it is our last day in Uzbekistan...

(written in Khiva)

Samarkand & female friendships

2008-07-18T19:11:00.004+02:00

Here we are again from our favourite Internet cafe (Batman Cafe') in Samarkand...

Spent two days around here staying at Antica Guesthouse, a pretty nice place managed by a nice lady & with a wonderful garden where you can enjoy a tasty breakfast. If you happen to come here as well, do ask suggestions to the managers: they speak very good English and can give plenty of useful tips to visit the area.

As everyone can imagine, Samarkand is impressive, with plenty of monuments that we will not list here.... Maybe we'll post some pictures if we manage to.
(Found one more mistake on the Lonely Planet, as the Ak-Saray Masoleum, which was supposed to be run down & closed, is instead fully renovated, open and definitely worth visiting)

Today, we went also to Shabrisatz, some 90 kms from Samarkand, which used to be the main capital of Tamerlan's empire (not much is left, but there are usually plenty of Uzbek couples getting married in the main square).

Managed tonight to find some meat-less laghman (some uzbek version of the noodles), which made Giulia pretty happy.

Got in touch (via email) with Andrew, a third traveller who will join us at least for the Turkmenistan leg of the trip (and that therefore the readers of this blog will get to know soon :-).
For the moment we have arranged to meet Andrew in a restaurant in Khiva at 8pm a few days from now; looking forward to it!

Met three very nice ladies from Italy (Ferrara), also on their way through Uzbekistan. They have been on the opposite route than us, so they have already been in Bukhara & Khiva. We plan to put into action all of their useful suggestions!
Just spent a very nice evening with them after having listened to a not-so-super-interesting concert of Israeli music that happened to take place in our guesthouse (long story...)
One of the ladies speaks some Russian, and thanks to this we went visiting some old Russian movie theater, a beautiful extra on top of everything else we saw around here.

We concluded the evening (and the stay here in Samarkand) chatting with them and with a few Tajik kids under a full-moon night in front of the Registan, and thinking that female friendships always have something special (Lorenzo doesn't fully agree to this...but Giulia could not care less)

(written by Julie & Lorenzo in Samarkand)

Tashkent: Taste of Apricot

2008-07-17T18:40:00.007+02:00

Here we are in Samarkand with our first post from the road...

Left two days ago (July 15th) from Milan with am Uzbek Air night flight full of Indians & Pakistanis (going home from Italy via Tashkent).

We landed yesterday morning in Taskent & got some Central Asia vibe right away: low buildings, scorching sun, plenty of different faces all over, from Russian blonds and Far Eastern almond eyes, and everything in between.

Went to change some money and found out the largest denomination is the 500 "sum" note (0.25 euros). Giulia ended up with a comically huge pile of cash that left her bewildered.

Visited the Khast Imom, the Chorsu Baazar and the modern Mustaqillic Maydoni, i.e. a modern downtown with a set of pharaonic buildings. Weather was very hot.

Found out the Lonely Planet is pretty much unreliable for Uzbekistan. For starters. although the guide is supposed to be updated, all prices are off by 50-100% (no, we have not been cheated - locals pay the same), i.e. metro is 300 sum (not 140), entrance to Khast Imom is 2500 and a 2nd class train ticket to Samarkand is about 13000 sum.

Speaking of which, yesterday we also bought the train ticket to Samarkand (where we are right now) from the main station, only later to discover that the train was leaving from some other train station whose existence was not even mentioned in our guide.... Was only a good idea from Giulia to ask about that so that we could find out!
(most people do not really speak any English or any other language we know, so this sort of communication is always a nice challenge)

Most people in Tashkent dress Western-style (not quite Islamic). Plenty of make-up, jeans, mini-skirts, high heels.

Had dinner in a Syrian restaurant very early; after the night flight & the day walking in the sun we were too tired to hang out. By 9pm we were sleeping.

Were sleeping at Gulnara Guesthouse, a cosy place that for breakfast served what Giulia defined a divine apricot jam (from which the name of this post :-)

More to come on the Samarkand area next time we connect...

(written by Lorenzo & Julie in Samarkand)

Getting ready

2008-07-14T22:27:00.007+02:00

Today was devoted to go around and see a few friends, as well as to finally pack up. With a bit of smart packing, I could fit my stuff in what you can see in this picture (yes, it is a frighteningly small piece of luggage).

So, finally that special feeling that you get when you are about to leave is starting to linger around me.

I have been lucky enough to travel in most of the developed world chasing the technology allure, and it is so easy to get to the point where it does not even feel like you are traveling. Having just returned from a quick hop to California, once again I just realized how eerie it is to feel sort of at home the moment you get your rental car in Los Angeles. And, needless to say, all the pampering of business travel contributes to develop that pleasant familiarity with all the places you have been more than once. As I was saying, it is very easy to take that sort of travel as a routine.

But now I am already thinking about tomorrow: flying to Tashkent, getting to some really different place, then another one, then another one... It is that subtle feeling between excitement, anxiety & expectation.

Oh, and just not to make this too serious (and in case you are curious), here's the table from which many of these posts have been written, just as it was looking this afternoon as I was getting ready.

(written in Rome)

Readings: Renzo Guolo's "La via dell'Imam"

2008-07-14T12:17:00.003+02:00

Not much time for a real review today, but certainly before leaving I feel like recommending Renzo Guolo's "La via dell'Imam" (unfortunately this book seems to exist only Italian).

In the first part, Guolo illustrates the history of modern Iran, from the Islamic revolution (and what caused it) to Ahmadinejad. The second part of the book focuses instead on specific issues, from the role of females to the relationship between Iran and the more general Middle East context.

(written in Rome)

From my favorite cafe

2008-07-12T00:23:00.002+02:00

Been a long week this one I just spent in San Diego - I suppose now more than before I need a vacation :-)

I am writing this post from one of my favorite spots in the world, Cafe 976 in San Diego, a lovely & local place in spite of the non-usually-Californian gloomy weather. Just sitting here always makes me feel good.

Giulia has also headed back from Paris to Northern Italy. We have been ironing out the last few details. Departure day is getting closer; looking forward to it.

Turkmenistan infos from another traveller

2008-07-10T20:48:00.003+02:00

I received a nice email from Steven, a traveller who has lived for quite a while in Turkmenistan. I am reporting it here with his permission

===

Hello Lorenzo,

Thanks for your response and letting me know about your future pictures.

To be honest, I'm very interested in how you will be traveling through Turkmenistan. I thought about planning a trip a few years ago, but tourist visas are still so restricted (I was told that I could only go to certain areas, such as Ashgabat, and that I would have to be accompanied by a policeman or FSB agent during my entire trip) that I decided not to do it. Do you already have your visas? Are you familiar with the travel restrictions, especially to border towns and other village-like locations? Have you found a way to travel freely in the country?

I lived in Dashaouz, now called Dashoguz, and visited Kunyar Urgence two times I think. It's an extremely interesting place! I'm sure that a lot of things have changed, but I have a feeling that relates only to the development of monuments, fountains, and other public spaces. In other words, life there is the same if not worse. In Dashogus there was a Turkish restaurant across the street from the post office, which is one of the safer places to eat albeit a little more expensive than the Turkmen restaurants. If you're looking for lodging, I would also recommend the Turkish hotel (it's one of only two hotels in the city) which, once again, is definitely more expensive but it's also nicer, i.e. it has water. Speaking of water, be careful of the water in Dashogus - it's downright dangerous (parasites), being located within the Aral Sea disaster zone. Use a distiller if you can.

How will you be traveling between Ashgabat and Dashoguz? Will you be taking the road running through the desert? I have never that, but I hear it's quite a trip; about 10 hours by bus. If I ever go back there I will definitely take this route because I imagine it's a great adventure. There is an overnight train, and of course you could fly but then you would definitely pay American prices, and that's probably not worth it. When in Ashgabat I would definitely recommend going to the Talcouchka Bazaar. It's a huge bazaar known throughout Central Asia just outside of the city (many buses go there everyday so just ask someone about it - do you guys speak Russian by the way?). You can buy just about everything there, and the confluence of various peoples is also wonderful to take in. If you're looking for handmade carpets that's the place to go for sure. Don't forget that you must register them with the appropriate ministry (Ministry Of National Treasures, or something like that, perhaps?), and unless you plan on carrying it with you, ship it via UPS. There was one UPS office in Ashgabat when I was there. There is a place in the city known as the Carpet Factory, and they produce all of the carpets for international trade, but I think the bazaar is better because you can find homemade carpets, i.e. carpets made by traditional families, and you can also find some more unique and personal designs. However, the carpet factory is definitely an interesting place to tour, as you can watch the women making the carpets.

Turkmens are not too crazy about pictures, but if you befriended them first then they might be accommodating.

Well, I wish you good luck, and I hope I have given you some good information (but I get the feeling that as experienced travelers you might be familiar with most of this already).

Be well,

Steven

src4768@gmail.com

Iranian Blogs

2008-07-09T07:03:00.002+02:00

According to Wikipedia, Iran is a country of widespread blogging.

A list of Iranian blogs in English is here.

(Thanks to my colleague Jamshid for point this out!)

The Silk Road

2008-07-08T19:09:00.005+02:00

This trip is going to touch many of the historical cities of the Silk Road.

The Silk Road used to be the legendary commercial route between China (or the Far East in general) and Europe, taking the name from the silk, the material for which China possessed the know-how (in reality it seems this name was first used retrospectively in 1877).

In practice the Silk Road was more a collection of routes (the best route was different according to the season) and it was not only about silk, but was also a generic communication link between East and West.

The Silk Road was established nearly 2000 years ago for the first time by the Chinese, who for a large period of time were also policing it to protect the traders. The main disruption to the Silk Road came around 1300 with the collapse of the Mongol Empire and the subsequent chaos.

Our journey covers the stretch of the Silk Road connecting the Middle East on one side with the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains on the other side. Teheran & Yazd in Iran, Merv & Urgench in Turkmenistan, Samarkand & Bukhara in Uzbekistan are on this path.

Obviously today there is no need for the Silk Road to trade generic goods between the East and the West. It is however interesting to notice how a map of oil and gas pipelines in the area is somewhat reminiscent of the Silk Road suggestions.

(written in San Diego)

Tasty pistachio nuts & international politics

2008-07-07T14:43:00.002+02:00

My friend Chiara G. raised to my attention this article, on a international mini-crisis linked to pistachio nuts trading. The article is a few months old but nevertheless still surreal.

(written in San Diego)

Milestones of Persian history & art

2008-07-06T00:41:00.006+02:00

This is a rough summary of the main dynasties of Persia/Iran, together with the main works of art/architecture that were produced in each period. The idea is to more or less convey what was done when, and put things in context.

Note that in several points in time Persia's border were obviously larger than today including territories that are today independent countries.

Elamites (2700 - 500 BC)
- Chogha Zanbil

Medes (900 - 500 BC)

- Ecbatana/Hamadan

Achaemenids (700 - 331 BC)
- Persepolis
- Pasargade
- Naqsh-e Rostam

Greek invasion (331 BC)

Seleucids (312 - 141 BC)

Parths (141 BC - 225)
- Takht-E Soliman

Sassanids (225 - 636)
- Taq-e Bostan, Kermanshah

Arab invasion (636 - 650)

Abbasids & Buyids (749 - 1038)
- Mil-e Gonbad, Gonbad-e Kavus
- Babak fortress, Kaleybak

Seljuks (1038 - 1220)
- Jameh mosque, Ispahan
- Assassin castles, West Iran
- Rubat Sharaf, Mashhad

Mongols (1220 - 1335)
- Oljeitu mausoleum, Soltaniyeh
- Qareh Kasilah, Maku

Timurides (1365 - 1501)
- Gohar Shad mosque, Mashhad
- Kabud mosque, Tabriz
- Takyeh Amir Chakhmagh, Yazd

Safavids (1501 - 1722)
- Imam square & mosque, Ispahan
- Sheikh Lotfollah mosque, Ispahan
- Madraseh-ye Chahar Bagh, Ispahan
- Chehel Sotum palace, Ispahan
- Vank cathedral, Ispahan
- Imam Reza sanctuary, Mashhad
- Hazra-e Masumeh, Qom
- Amargah-e Shah Ne' Matollah Vali, Mahan
- Qazvin

Qajars (1794 - 1907)
- Golestan palace, Teheran
- Eram palace, Shiraz
- Takieh Mo'aven ol-Molk, Kermanshah

Russian & British invasion (1907)

Pahlavis (1921 - 1979)
- Teheran-Sari railway

Islamic Revolution (1979 - today)

Our "draft" itinerary

2008-07-03T00:22:00.003+02:00

The pictorial version of our itinerary was already available on another post. Here's the (well, VERY tentative) day-by-day one

Day 1 Milan->Tashkent

Day 2 Tashkent

Day 3 Tashkent-> Samarkand

Day 4 Samarkand

Day 5 Samarkand-> Shahrisabz->Samarkand

Day 6 Bukhara

Day 7 Bukhara

Day 8 Bukhara->Khiva

Day 9 Dashogus/Shavat border->Kunyaurgench->Darvaza

Day 10 Darvaza->Erbent->Ashgabat

Day 11 Ashgabat

Day 12 Ashgabat->Abiverd->Mary

Day 13 Gonur Depe

Day 14 Merv->Serags/Sarakhs border

Day 15 Mashhad & fly to Kerman

Day 16 Kerman

Day 17 Bam?

Day 18 Bam->Kerman->Yazd

Day 19 Yazd

Day 20 Yazd->Shiraz

Day 21 Shiraz

Day 22 Persepolis

Day 23 Shiraz & surroundings

Day 24 Shiraz - Ispahan

Day 25 Ispahan

Day 26 Ispahan

Day 27 Ispahan

Day 28 Ispahan->Kashan

Day 29 Kashan->Qom->Teheran

Day 30 Teheran

Day 31 Teheran->Quazvin

Day 32 Quazvin->Masuleh

Day 33 Takht-e-Soleiman

Day 34 Zanjan->Tabriz

Day 35 Northern Iran

Day 36 Teheran

Day 37 Teheran

Day 38 Teheran->Rome

(written in Rome)

This blog's name

2008-07-02T10:59:00.005+02:00

Some friends have been wondering why the blog has its current name...

Well, "Taste Of Cherry" is the title of a movie from Iranian director Kiarostami (as you can see from the YouTube clip at the bottom of this page).

And, as my friend Saso noticed, the name itself "cherry" originates from the area between Iran and Turkey (although the general belief is somewhat incorrectly that cherries came from Iran, but obviously borders used to be different from what they are today)

Iran is still today a top (or the top) world producer of cherries. See here.

Oh, and sure enough, let me also say that the name was a bright idea from Giulia :-)

(written in Rome)

Water is the new oil

2008-06-30T22:58:00.003+02:00

We could all drive less, go with public transportation, use photovoltaic cells, etc, but we cannot stop drinking

There are some hints that water may become the new oil.

Here's an interesting piece of news on the topic from Central Asia

(written in Rome)

Readings: Adib-Moghaddam's "Iran In World Politics"

2008-06-30T01:17:00.007+02:00

This past Sunday was particularly hot, and both jet lag & yesterday night required that for once I'd take it easy, so I simply ended up reading another book related to the trip

Last week Arshin Adib-Moghaddam's "Iran In World Politics"(Columbia University Press, 2008), a scholarly affair that has just been published. I had never heard of the author, an iranian currently at the University of London.

This book was featured quite prominently in the bookstore where I found it (Montreal's "Indigo Livres Musique & Cafe" bookstore), but interestingly no real review seems to exist on the web yet.

A somewhat pretentious introduction positions this book (which is in reality a collection of four long essays) as an "out of the box" research output, i.e. a work challenging the status quo in terms of consideration of Iran politics, especially from an international standpoint. This might be true for a North American audience, but on the other hand I did not find this work to be as provocative as promised

The first essay deals with the formation of the collective sentiment of nationalism rooted in the Islamic revolution of 1979. The phenomenon is de-structured in a "theoretical" manner inspired by the Frankfurt school of philosophy (Adorno, Marcuse, Horkheimer). This essay attempt to explain how the Islamic Revolution, and the subsequent movements, were perceived "from inside", i.e which kind of self-awareness existed in Iran in the 70s.

The second essay employs a similar apparatus for the Iran-Iraq war. Also in this case the discussion tends to become focused (sometimes fastidiously) on the "relative perception" of the actors. I personally did not find anything shocking in the discussion of how Saddam's status in world politics in the 80s was favored by the West, especially the US, as these piece of information have become common knowledge in the last few years. Similarly, the fact that the Iran-Iraq was falls outside any (true or false) Persian-Arab rivalry, is equally nothing new, as Saddam's Baathist regime was itself superimposed to Iraq.

The third essay deals with the spin on Iran provided by the neo-con in the US. This essay is a bit more factual, and one can find a few interesting reconstructions of the neo-conservative mantra. Whoever has been following US politics in the last 5-10 years in some level of detail will find nothing extraordinarily new, as the main characters here are the usual suspects, e.g. Richard Perle, David Frum (the celebrity speechwriter who invented the "axis of evil" expression), and many others of the same clique.

The last essay provides a glimpse of the complexities of the Iranian society to demonstrate the existence of a pluralist society in Iran, with democratic and reformist tensions. The main goal is to show that Iran is not a "monolithic" and bellicose country as often portraied in the context of certain political discourses.

The main target of this book appears to be the ordinary Westerner, whose knowledge of Iran may very well be limited to the occasional Bush declaration. On the other hand the style of this book, and its extensive usage of academic "conceptualization" are such that it is very difficult to see it becoming massively popular in the West (not to mention that it presume some level of background knowledge on the last few decades of Iran). Definitely not an entry-level type of work.

(written in Rome)

Persepolis and real life

2008-06-29T11:41:00.005+02:00

While Lorenzo was crossing the ocean and reading Persepolis, I was having a drink with a couple of Iranian friends at "Le Tournesol", a very nice bar in Paris which I recommend...And, curiosely enough, we started talking about Persepolis. They told me that the film brought memories of lots of thing they had forgotten but they lived during their childhood. Their parents were Iranian communists and they spent occasionally some days in prison...The father of one was a great producer of homemade wine and my friend still remembers when she helped him pressing grapes with her foot:-) Exactly as in the movie!

Readings: Satrapi's "Persepolis"

2008-06-28T19:30:00.009+02:00

These days, I am trying to read a variety of things for our trip (and I have a small pile of books in my living room at the moment)

A few minutes ago I just finished Persepolis, a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi (you might have seen the animation movie that she did herself out of this, and that won the Jury Prize in Cannes in 2007). Yes, yes, it is just comics, but it is as serious as it gets.

Persepolis is Satrapi's autobiography from the age of 10 to the age of 22, growing up in Iran during the revolution in a family of communist sympathies, moving to Europe, and then going back to Iran.

It is the story of a girl raised by her family to be independent and emancipated, and yet so painfully attached to her own traditions. It is a story of coming of age, discovering life always too early, or always too late. It is a story about the people of Iran, their tensions, their deep humanity within the cracks of society.

It is above all an emotional act of love towards the Iranian people, and a beautiful example of oneself's acceptance.

Politics as a personal matter.

(written in Rome)

Our departure date

2008-06-28T10:08:00.000+02:00

Sounds like a few visitors of this blog have been wondering when are we leaving (possibly to finally get rid of these posts, but nevertheless be assured I'll look for connectivity wherever I can :-)

Well, it's no big mistery - we are on our way on July 15th, on the night flight Milan-Tashkent (yes, it's a direct). We are back on August 21st.

(written over the Atlantic Ocean)

Visa tips

2008-06-26T00:43:00.007+02:00

Voilà some information on how to get a visa for Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

The easiest visa to get is the Uzbekistan Visa: if you are a Austrian, Belgian, UK, Spain, Italian, French, Swiss, German, Japanese or Latvian citizen all you have to do is to fill in the application form, hand it at the embassy with your passport and 2 photos. The visa will be handed in about 2 working days. The visa will cost 40 euro for a 7 days stay, 50 euros for a 15 days stay, 60 euros for a 30 days stay, 80 euros for 3 months.

Regarding the Turkmenistan Visa, to receive it you need a Letter of Invitation (LOI),
which can be obtained only if you book a guided tour in Turkmenistan. We did it with
Stantours (www.stantours.com), a very efficient agency which provided us the LOI in less than 3 weeks. Once you have received this LOI by email or fax you can go to the embassy and get your visa (even immediately if you are lucky). Just have to fill in 2 copies of the form, 2 copies of your passport and 2 photos. As they told us, with the LOI, it seems also possible to get the visa directly at the Turkmenistan border.

To get an Iranian visa, it is also necessary a LOI. On the internet you can find many agencies which can provide you wtih a LOI, paying some fees or booking with them a part of your trip, like 3 or 4 nights in a hotel. Once you get the LOI you can go to the Iranian embassy, fill in the visa application form, give 2 photos (women must be veiled in the pictures ).
The visa costs 60 euros, and it is valid for 30 days and it takes almost a week to receive it.
Anyway the LOI procedure it is not always necessary: a friend of mine, who is in Armenia now and who is going in Iran soon, obtained the visa without LOI, just going to the embassy in Paris with an Iranian friend of him who declared to host him during his staying in Iran…

Hope to have been clear enough…

p.s. as you will notice I will cover the serious part of this blog :-)

(written in Paris)

Cell phones in Central Asia

2008-06-24T00:39:00.003+02:00

So, I was idling around here in the alleged high-tech world (in practice: in a windowless meeting room in Canada), and I was wondering about the cell phone coverage in Central Asia....

Well... here we go.

Seems things are pretty good in Iran: MCI appears to cover all the main areas, city & transportation routes (MCI is the one with the largest roaming agreements, at least based on the GSMA website). There's also other operators, but with more limited coverage or roaming agreements.

On the other hand, not much coverage in Turkmenistan at the moment, it seems. MTS has plenty of roaming agreements but just 3 coverage spots in the country. A second network from another operators is reported to be in the making.

Uzbekistan has 3 operators all of them with quite good coverage along the main routes & cities.

(Needless to say, this covers GSM - if you wander the world with a satellite phone it's not even fair)

(written in Montreal)

Our journey on a map

2008-06-21T14:35:00.001+02:00

Here's our itinerary on a map, courtesy of GoogleMaps (I had been looking for some tool to draw an itinerary on a map, and, sure enough, they had thought about it in Mountain View....)

Well, it is not exactly what you would call a straight line, and probably you gotta follow the link to the larger version to figure out the details (in case you care...)

The journey starts in Tashkent and proceed westwards through Uzbekistan, then south through Turkmenistan, and finally into Iran up to Teheran. (The green bit is a leg we are thinking to do by plane)

At some point maybe we will post also our tentative travel plan...

(written in Rome)

View Larger Map

Three out of three

2008-06-20T15:29:00.003+02:00

.... and we finally got also our Turkmen visa, yesterday, in Paris.

Here's our receipt:

(written in Rome)

There is always a start

2008-06-18T23:54:00.003+02:00

So, how to start this blog? (There is always a start).

There's an Uzbek visa and an Iranian visa on our passports. And we are doing the paperwork to get the Turkmen visa as well tomorrow morning.

Or maybe I should have started from who we are and where we are going....let's give it a try.

It is two of us, Giulia and Lorenzo (maybe we can talk more abour ourselves in another occasion). About one month ago we started ranting about travelling to Iran this summer. (But we are the kind of people that take rants seriously). Somehow one of us proposed to add Uzbekistan. Then we added Turkmenistan since it's on the way. Then we decided to switch the sequence and start from Uzbekistan. (Most of it took place over the phone or on instant messenger, since we don't even live in the same country, but yes, we do know each other in person)

And here we go. We are leaving a few weeks from now. Nearly 40 days on the road, from Tashkent to Teheran, as self-organized as possible. I shall post our itinerary soon. This blog is going to be our travel-book

Oh, and I forgot. Giulia would have probably been able to write the same with half the words and twice the wit. Maybe she will :-)
(written in Paris)