Part 1   London to Tehran

Introduction

This trip took place a long time ago, in the early 70s.  I decided to add it to the website for a number of reasons.  Firstly a lot of people did similar trips in the 60s and 70s and it may bring back memories for many of our contemporaries.  Secondly, because of wars and other political upheavals it is no longer possible to do the trip the way we did it. At present, it is very difficult just to get into some of the countries we visited and travel in some of them is now only for the very adventurous. Thirdly, the way of life in some of the places we visited, some of the buildings and even one or two of the towns have either disappeared or changed out of recognition. And lastly, it is a bit of a historical record to remind ourselves and others what it was like to do The Overland.

Before we started on the trip, we had been living in the U.K. for some time - Merelyn for two years and myself for three. We had both qualified as accountants in Australia and had worked in that profession in London during the winters.  During the summers we travelled around Europe. We  married in London in 1969 and had originally intended to go to South Africa, work there for a year and earn lots of money before returning to Australia.  However, after tripping around Europe we had sufficient money for the fare to South Africa but not enough to leave there.  It was a time when the political situation was becoming unstable and we didn't want to be stranded there without the fare home if anything blew up. So when we saw an advertisement in the paper for a cheap bus fare from London to Calcutta we made a quick decision and made the booking.

The reason for the cheap fare was that Sundowners, probably the best one of the companies running buses on the overland trip, needed to get an extra bus to Calcutta as soon as possible to bring a group back to Europe. Because it was arranged hurriedly they thought they needed to set a low fare to attract passengers at short notice. In the event they filled the bus without trouble. The bus was owned by Gino, an Italian who chartered the bus to Sundowners and drove it himself.

We were very lucky to get on this trip for a number of reasons.  Firstly, Gino was a gift from Heaven.  He was very experienced, not only in running coach trips generally, but in running them on this route as he had done it a number of times.  He knew exactly how to deal with the bureaucracies of the various countries, with the police, with the hotels and anyone else we came into contact with.  He owned the bus, looked after it and drove it carefully.  Above all, it was his aim in life to make the trip a terrific experience for his passengers and he looked after us like a guardian angel.

Secondly, the passengers formed a cohesive group right from the start. Most of us were in our twenties or early thirties, although there were one or two on either side of this age group and we were all experienced travellers. All of us were ready to put up with the inconveniences and small alarms that are inevitable on such a trip and were prepared to give and take.  For these reasons we all got on well with each other and I can't remember that there were any arguments or complaints. The bulk of us were Australians returning home from living in Europe for a year or more. There were quite a few New Zealanders and the rest were British, Canadian and American.

Thirdly, the times were such that it was very cheap to buy things, including accommodation, in the countries we visited.  Most of us had very little money left so we appreciated this.

This report is gleaned from a travel diary that Merelyn kept, from photos we took and from our collective memory. The photos are not very good.  My Nikkormat camera was stolen in Germany on a previous trip and we had to make do with a little Instamatic and an old Petrie.

On the road

Sunday 15 November 1970  London  -  Dover  Saturday had been wet, continually raining, but Sunday dawned bright and clear and remained that way. We were anxious to get going so by 1700 we left the Baker Street flat for the last time and took a taxi to Earls Court.  It was dark when we got to the Sundowners office and the bus was parked nearby.  There was a group of six new Zealand females ensconced in the back of the bus and singing very loudly. Their repertoire included Maori songs, bawdy ballads and the beginning of a haka. They weren't bad and were good at harmony but we thought, "Oh Dear, do we have to put up with this all the way to India?"  Even though they told us all they were looking forward to the journey, as 1930 and the time for departure arrived, they got off the bus and the friend they were farewelling got on.  What a relief.

We reached Dover at 2200 and stood in line for the ferry until nearly midnight - ours was the last vehicle to board.  We managed to find two bench seats and stretched out.  Just as well as it was a very rough crossing.

Monday 16 November Dover (England)  -  Mannheim (Germany)  The trip to Zeebrugge took four hours.  After more waiting we set off, heading through Brussels to Liege and then to the German border at Aachen. Going through borders is effortless - one of the crew collects all the passports and we sit on the bus while he trips off to the office.  We stopped at a lay-by for lunch - sandwiches and coffee - otherwise we just drove all day, mostly on autobahns.

The crew introduced themselves to us.  There was Gino the driver, Tim an Australian who had experience as a courier and was working his passage to India in this position and Dave, another Australian who was learning the courier job and was assisting. Tim got off to a bad start by proposing some vague contributory scheme to cover all food and accommodation including camping.  He immediately came up against polite opposition from all the experienced travellers on board who pointed out that Europe in November was too cold for camping and that, having limited funds, we each needed to have a clear idea of our commitment.  This threw poor old Tim and we saw a foretaste of what was to come.  Gino and the two couriers conferred and eventually came up with a suggestion that we all agreed with.  That is, we would each contribute ₤25 (US$60 at that time) to a kitty to cover accommodation only.  The foretaste was Gino quietly organising the best course of action.  As time went on Tim got slacker and slacker and eventually Gino was doing most of the organising.

A Treasurer was appointed and as there were only two accountants on board, Merelyn and me, I got the job.  It was also agreed that we would pair off and take it in turns to change money to go into the kitty. This was in the days when we all carried travellers cheques.  M & I drew this duty in Afghanistan which isn't the easiest place to change money.

The plan was to stop for the night at Darmstadt but because of poor signposting we missed the turnoff to that city and it was decided to go on to Heidelberg. I suggested, and the bus agreed, that while in Europe we should stay in youth hostels in order to save money so we headed for the Heidelberg YHA. Unfortunately they didn't have enough room but the staff rang the YHA in Mannheim, 12 kms away, and booked us in there.  Off we went and with some difficulty managed to find the hostel.  The warden arranged for a restaurant to open up for us so we could all get a meal.  The warden's son escorted us to the restaurant where we had sausage, sauerkraut and beer. It was 2030 when we settled at the hostel and 2130 when we left the restaurant.  By the time we went to bed we had been on the road for more than 24 hours.

Tuesday 17 November  Mannheim (Germany)  -  Fuschl-am-See (Austria)  We all had a hostel breakfast then spent half-an-hour walking around town and buying lunch.  We had some coin which we wanted to get rid of so we bought a candle costing DM4.95.  Last night it snowed and this morning there is a little bit of snow lying on the ground - just enough.

From Mannheim we took the most direct route to Salzburg in Austria - autobahns all the way so not much in the way of scenery.  It had been dark for more than an hour before we reached Salzburg so we could see very little of the city. Most of us had of course been there before. We went on 20 km to Fuschl-am-See and stayed at the Hotel Seerose.  The hotel was warm and comfortable, the evening meal in their restaurant quite delicious and the surrounding countryside suitably mysterious, making us all look forward to seeing it in the morning.

Wednesday 18 November  Fuschl-am-See (Austria) - Borl (Yugosalavia)  Our route today was Fuschl-am-See - Bad Ischl - Bruck-an-der Mur - Graz - Maribor - Borl.

Fuschl-am-See by day was not quite so beautiful as we imagined but it was pretty. The hotel is on the shore of a lake and we had a view from our room.

Last night it snowed in the Alps so this morning we drove through forests of snow-covered fir trees.  It was glorious.  All our trips to Europe had been in summer and autumn and we had been longing to see it under snow.  Now we have seen it in all its glory, seen the icicles, the snow hanging from roofs and covering the trees and everything coloured white.

Brod was our scheduled destination tonight but soon after we left Maribor the crew sought a hotel. They found one at Borl, a most interesting old castle-villa.  M and I must have been given the royal suite for we had a magnificent view and our own private bathroom and toilet. There was a huge ceramic stove that would heat the room if it was working (not tonight) and a glorious parquetry floor in a star design. There was a plaque in the hotel which we interpreted as saying the place was used as a concentration camp during World War II.

Ceramic Stove, Borl

Thursday 19 November  Borl (Yugosalavia) - Near Nis (Yugoslavia)  We stopped in Zagreb to to buy food for lunch then we got back onto the bus and drove and drove.  It was dark when we reached Belgrade where we stopped for a meal.  Neither M or I had been here before and we were quite surprised to find it was modern, clean and with the finish of most prosperous European cities.

We spent the night at a camping ground cum motel which at the equivalent of 12 shillings a night was quite expensive.  This is the same spot that Merelyn stayed at with her sister Lynette, brother-in-law and friend fifteen months ago.

Friday 20 November  Near Nis (Yugoslavia) - Kavalla (Greece)  A beautiful day, sunny and warm.  We tried to leave at 0630 but we didn't manage to leave until after 0715.  We stopped at Nis for breakfast and to buy stuff for lunch. Breakfast was a type of pie made with pastry and cream cheese and served hot accompanied by some lemon tea.  We drove all day, stopping once when we ran out of dieseline, crossing the Greek border in the dark.

We stopped at a little town where we intended to stay the night and Gino and Tim went looking for cheap accommodation which they couldn't find.  The hoteliers in that town were too greedy and as a consequence they missed out on 30 beds that night.  While we waited we were besieged by restaurant owners begging us to come and eat at their place.  We chose one who kept on shouting "bouzouki, bouzouki".  On the promise of some music most of the bus crowd followed him to his restaurant where he was joined by some other patrons and together they played and sang folk songs for us. While we listened we drank a lot of ouzo and retsina and a lot of us became quite merry. The meal was shish kebabs, salad and chips and delicious. The whole night was marvellous - we arrived there about 2200 and swam out about 0100.  Gino hadn't touched a drop and it was decided to drive on through the night while we passengers got what sleep we could.

Night in a Greek restaurant

Saturday 21 November  Kavalla (Greece)  We arrived in Kavalla on the Aegean Sea about 0530 and sat in the bus until daylight.  It was arranged that, because we had been travelling non-stop for five days we would take a day off and stay here.  The crew went off to find a hotel and we walked  around the fishermen's wharf, watching them transfer their nets to the shore and later on watched them and their wives mending the nets.

Having booked into the hotel we rested, bathed, washed clothes and then went walking.  Kavalla is very hilly, some streets can barely be negotiated by scooters.  They are not only steep but rough and treacherous. The view from the top of the hill we climbed was beautiful, overlooking the city and the sea.  We had lunch sitting on park seats in a little sunny square at the summit.  We then walked to the old fortress nearby from which we sighted an old Turkish building which excited our curiosity.  We set out to find this building in the streets below.  From street-level the building, with Arabic script over the doorways, seemed derelict.  Much of it appeared to be in use as a warehouse and the rest for housing.  Its original purpose was obscure and much of its former beauty had been lost.

Dinner was a fish meal, just the two of us, then bed and long-awaited rest.

Sunday 22 November  Kavalla (Greece) - Istanbul (Turkey)  Again we drove all day and into the night until we reached Istanbul.  The border crossing was simple and quite speedy. A Jordanian fellow, known to Gino, met us at our hotel and took us all to a fish restaurant under the Galata Bridge. Because it was Ramadan the Moslems were fasting and restaurants had changed their opening hours to suit.  Notwithstanding, this particular restaurant opened up especially for us since we were such a large number.  The fish was superb but we were downhearted to leave the salad.  There is a cholera scare here at the moment.

When we got on the bus in Kavalla this morning we had three new passengers - two American hippies and the daughter of one of them, six year old Muffin. They were off to India.  Muffin quickly won the hearts of everyone on board and she moved around the bus sitting on everybody's lap in turn.  She did develop some favourite friends but unfortunately we weren't amongst them.  Her mother and the boyfriend were strict vegetarians and Muffin never seemed to get enough to eat.  She was always hungry and we suspect her favourites were those people who slipped her a biscuit from time to time. A couple of times during the trip she had some tummy trouble but didn't like to admit it.  She would sit on our knees, look at us solemnly and say, "I'm not sick. Are you sick?"  It's a phrase Merelyn and I adopted and we still use it today.

Gino and Muffin

Monday 23 November  Istanbul (Turkey)  We had breakfast of bread and jam (not daring to touch the butter) and tea and then spent the morning at the Topkapi Palace. From there we went for a lunch of shish kebabs and then for a browse around the Bazaar.  The Bazaar in winter is quite different from in summer.  Very few customers were around making the shops easy to browse through.  Merelyn and I were impressed by the number and cheapness of the "antiques" available.  Some of them may not have been antique but we purchased a bronze pen holder and attached ink pot for 40 lire (₤1) and an onyx egg.

In the Bazaar, Istanbul

Arrangements had been made to take us to a Turkish nightclub tonight.  We didn't set out until 2230 and didn't arrive back at the hotel until 0315.  The show was just like any nightclub anywhere - loud, girlie and showy. There was a belly dancer and four young Turkish men performed a dance from the Black Sea area.  There was also a group of enthusiastic Hawaiians who danced and played various instruments.

Tuesday 24 November  Istanbul (Turkey)  We were late to bed so we were late in rising.  Yesterday it had rained all day but today it was fine until mid-morning then it started raining again.  We went to St. Sophia and the Blue Mosque but the day was so dark that we couldn't get a good view of the inside of either building.

M and I had promised a restaurant proprietor (they are so pushy) that we would eat at his restaurant tonight.  We took Lesley and Norman with us and fulfilled our promise.  It was worth it.

Over to Asia

Wednesday 25 November  Istanbul (Turkey) - Ankara (Turkey)  The bus departed soon after 0800 and headed for the ferry to cross the Bosphorus in the rain.  Once on the other side we were in Asia.

The scenery was varied. At first there were a number of towns and the land was flat and very wet.  We climbed to the Anatolian Plateau  and the scenery became hilly and rugged.  The last 100 km to Ankara was beautiful..  There were a number of small villages of poor houses set on the sides of hills and we thought that the farming in that area was rice growing as the fields were very wet.  They were set out in the old bed of a river that was flowing nearby.  The mountains here were rugged and reasonably bare.  We saw much volcanic rock and signs of earth movement.  Ankara is a modern city, quite clean and impressive.  We had a bit of  look around, including a guided tour of Ataturk's Mausoleum.

Tonight we had Turkish-style roast beef and Yorkshire pudding - with a spicy tomato sauce, rice, peppers and yoghurt.  We couldn't touch the yoghurt because of the cholera outbreak.

Thursday 26 November  Ankara (Turkey) - Sansum (Turkey)  The bus wasn't due to leave until 1000 so several of us went for a walk to the old town inside the old walls, high up on a hill.  The old town is accessible by a series of steps - hundreds of them.  We could get a good view of Ankara.  The city has a modern centre but is surrounded for an incredible distance by squalid housing. The area is very hilly and the ground is stony.  We were standing at the top of a flight of stairs admiring the view when a young man ran past and pinched Merelyn on the bottom.  She was wearing a thick overcoat so neither he or she felt much.  She was more amused than offended.

Merelyn changed money in a bank and was served by two young women who spoke English.  We had a friendly chat and they gave us a 1971 diary and a map of Ankara. Before we got back to the bus we each had had a shoe-shine - more to give the kids some custom than to get clean shoes.

Shoe-shine, Ankara

The countryside from Ankara to Sansum on the Black Sea was beautiful and fascinating. The colours are in the red soil, yellow remains of a crop and grey-green scrub on the hillsides.  The hills are rugged and not uniform in shape or make-up.  There is stark evidence that this is an old volcanic region. Photography is difficult because of the winter light and the fact that the hills are a fair distance from the road.

Sansum by night is quiet but the Post Office was open well after 2200.  We ate a good size meal with beer for 14.30 lire for the two of us.  That is 90 cents!  (We are thinking in US money now). Tonight's hotel is only 11 lire each - 66 cents.

Friday 27 November  Sansum (Turkey) - Trabzon (Turkey)  Our drive today, all day, was along the Black Sea coast.  At first the scenery was not very interesting - the countryside was flat and the vegetation dull.  It rained the whole day and the soil was all mud with some flooding.  When the hills started the scenery became much more interesting.  A surprising number and variety of wildflowers were in bloom.  One section of the road twisted violently up and down hills through beautiful country but the rain and dull light deterred the photographers.

During the day we stopped at a service station for a comfort stop.  Most of us have come across some disgusting public toilets in our travels but this one was the most repulsive we have experienced. We think that in future we will be stopping along the road when we can find good cover.

In contrast, tonight's hotel is clean, warm and modern and has ample bathing facilities. There is a good bar and the town appears to be friendly.

Dave and kids, Eastern Turkey
 

Saturday 28 November  Trabzon (Turkey) - Erzurum (Turkey)  Soon after leaving Trabzon and the Black Sea we started to climb.  That climb must have lasted for an hour and a half.  Most of the way the road surface was bitumen but there were sections that were just mud on a firm base.  At one stage a car overtook us with the passengers gesticulating at the wheels of the bus.  Gino stopped and got out and the motorist pointed out a bulge on the inside wall of one of the tyres.  It was judged safe for us to continue until we reached a town and could change the wheel and replace the tyre.

South of Trabzon

The road ran alongside a river gorge and the view down the gorge was spectacular. It was possible to have long sweeping vistas of the river because the gorge was relatively wide. Pack bridges, just wide enough for a footpath, spanned the river every few kilometres.  We eventually left that gorge behind and continued climbing till we wondered if we would ever reach the summit.  We did eventually reach a snow capped pass at 2000 metres then started the descent.  Not much further on, after passing over a mountain-ringed plateau, we climbed over another pass.  This time the snow was thicker and we stopped to have a snowball match.

We are now in the eastern part of Turkey where there are a large number of Kurds and they appear not to like foreigners very much.  We saw some children force an Italian registered car to slow down and then one of them kicked it. Another child hit our bus with a heavy stick and a few rocks were thrown.  Stories were told about a bus from another overland company that had been shot at around here just a few weeks ago.  We spoke to some Canadians driving a car that kept close to the bus while we were travelling through the mountains and they said they had stones thrown at them and were fearful of having the windscreen broken.

Erzurum wasn't very friendly either.  We walked out from the hotel to get some bread and were subjected to hostile stares from passers-by.  Nothing worse that that fortunately and at least the hotel was clean and warm and had hot showers - all very welcome, especially at 17 lire each.

Loo stop

Iran

Sunday 29 November  Erzurum (Turkey) - Maku (Iran)  Today we travelled through very rugged mountains where the landscape was bare and brown.  The villages had houses made of mud brick and outside each house was a cone-shaped heap of what we took to be dung, used as cooking fuel.  Also outside some of these very primitive houses were old threadbare carpets which would probably fetch a fortune in Europe as antiques.  On top of the mountains, including Mount Ararat, there was a little bit of snow but not much, and then only on the shady side.  The road itself was moderately good - narrow but mainly sealed - but there were only 2 or 3 service stations and the towns were very poor.  You wouldn't like to meet with an emergency in this area.

We were very nervous about what would happen when we arrived at the Iranian border.  Because of the cholera outbreak in Turkey we had been told we might have to spend two or more days in quarantine. Instead, what happened was we were lined up at the border post and each handed a glass of water and antibiotic pills as treatment against cholera and typhoid.  The nurses on board had a look at the pill bottles and said we had been given unnecessarily massive doses and that we would all be running to the toilet for the next few days. Or possibly something worse could happen because one of our number saw a guard fill up the water jugs from a tap in the men's toilet.  Fortunately none us suffered any ill effects at all.

The border post was a large square arrangement manned by armed Turkish and Iranian guards.  It was the most heavily armed border any of us had seen - even those who had travelled through South America. There was really little delay and we were through there in 1.5 hours.

We drove 20 kms into Iran and stopped at Maku.  The crew found some very basic accommodation which would only cost 10 cents each.  Some people took this but others thought it was such a flea-pit that they preferred to sleep on the bus.  Normally Gino didn't permit this but tonight he made an exception.  We were going to opt for the bus but Ruth, who was the oldest of the passengers, didn't like either option and asked Merelyn and me if we would share a room with her at the upmarket hotel nearby. Upmarket is a relative term - the hotel, which described itself as a motel, was fairly new and had been built to attract Westerners, but it would only rate one or two stars in a Western country.  Also it was very expensive by local standards - $US3.00 each.  We agreed for Ruth's sake to book in to this hotel and were given a room with an ensuite bathroom.  We went to the hotel's restaurant and had a semi-European meal which was very expensive and then returned to the room to have showers.  However, we couldn't work out how to light the boiler in the bathroom.  After asking one of the staff to light it for us, we had our hot showers and retired to bed. We had a lot of trouble locking the door - something was wrong with the lock

Monday 30 November  Maku (Iran) - Zanjan (Iran)  What happened next is very funny in retrospect but at the time was a bit frightening.  At 0230 I was woken up by a burning smell and roused the others.  We went into the bathroom and found the boiler glowing red and literally pulsating with the heat. The burning smell was from the paint.  We didn't have any idea of how to turn it off so we turned on the taps.  Great clouds of steam poured out.  That was no good.  We needed help.  We rushed to the door and tried to unlock it but no amount of jiggling with the key would work. We'd had trouble getting it closed and now we couldn't get it open.  We tried the windows but they were covered in screens which we couldn't budge. Finally Ruth managed to unlock the door and I dashed out and pounded down to the office.  There was no-one there and no response to my knocking and shouting.  I looked into the restaurant and saw a pair of feet sticking out from under a table.  I managed to wake this fellow who didn't have a clue what I was on about.  I said, "Fire. Fire. You come quick".  Mumbling and grumbling he followed me back to the room and got even crankier when he saw what was happening.  He turned the thing off and lectured us in his language before stomping off.

We went back to bed and tried to get some sleep.  We had to get up again soon as the bus was leaving very early but everything was conspiring against us.  Now we started to get cold and there was only one thin blanket on each bed. Then the toilet cistern started to play up.  Water rushed through without filling the cistern and we had to listen to that for the rest of the night.  Just before dawn we got up and left the room.  We walked down to the entrance but found the gates locked and the whole place surrounded by a wall.  I helped Merelyn over the wall but Ruth refused to follow suit.  She told me to go back and wake the fellow again and get him to open the gate. I said, "There is no way I am waking that character again.  Come on, you can get over" and made her climb over the wall.

When we got back to the bus we found that some of those that had stayed in the cheap hotel had also had an interesting night.  A married couple and another chap shared a room.  Lee was on the outside of the bed and woke up to find an Iranian squatting beside her and stroking her arm.  She woke the guys and they convinced the fellow to leave the room.

The ones that stayed in the bus had the better time but even they had to contend with men peering through the windows all night.

From Maku we continued east and then south-east, driving through mountains with snow on them and later through very rugged hilly country. The mud-brick houses are square and the villages blend into the background.  Near the border the women wore very gay colours, wide skirts and no veils but the further east we went the more veils we saw. 

We stopped in Tabriz for lunch and were taken up by some university students who invited us to their apartment for tea.  We all took a bus which was crowded.  Dave stood on the platform next to the driver who offered him a puff from the cigarette he was smoking.  Dave took it but the first draw told him it was hash.  He was so disgusted that the driver was smoking drugs that he threw the fag out the door.  This made the driver angry and we thought there was going to be a barney until the driver was placated with a number of ordinary cigarettes.  When we reached the students' flat the gas wasn't working so they offered us milk and oranges. The conversation was very interesting and they told us that the Shah was very unpopular.  M & I told the students we were taken by the Iranian music we had heard and where could we buy some records.  At first they thought we were taking the mickey and couldn't understand why Westerners would like Iranian music but when they realised we were sincere they took us to a record shop.

In the afternoon we made a stop so that we could photograph some dark brown camels drinking in a pool.

Tonight's hotel is so-so.  We shared a room with Terry, one of the single guys.  The townspeople here really stared at us and made us feel uncomfortable.

Tuesday 1 December  Zanjan (Iran) - Tehran (Iran)  We left Zanjan early in order to reach Tehran  in the middle of the day.  The countryside today was again mountainous with a touch of desert.  Tehran presented itself as a modern city, like many others in Europe, but lacked any real appeal.  Our schedule had us stopping here for two full days, leaving on Friday morning but Tehran doesn't have many tourist attractions.  A group of  us decided to travel the 420 kms south to see the glorious city of Isfahan having a day and a half there and coming back on Thursday afternoon. We set off to walk to the bus station but as none of us had been in Tehran before we had some difficulty finding the way.  The streets are wide and the traffic moves at a furious pace.  Merelyn almost got bowled over crossing one road which gave us a fright.

Wednesday 2 December  Tehran (Iran) - Isfahan (Iran)  We caught the de-luxe express bus to Isfahan, taking less than the scheduled 7 hours.  We were supposed to arrive at 0500 but got there at 0415.  We sat around in the bus depot until 0630 then set off for the Jahan Hotel which we had been booked into.  On the way we stopped at a small restaurant for a delicious breakfast of something that looked vaguely like porridge.  After a short rest and clean-up at the hotel we set off.

The city truly is gorgeous.  It is centered around an impressive square called Maiden-e Naqsh-e Jahan or Royal Square.  The name means something like Square of the World Picture and it is the second biggest square in the world after Tiemann Square in Beijing. Around its edges are a number of beautiful buildings and there are monumental buildings at either end and in the centre of the two sides - entrance to the Grand Bazaar and the Royal Mosque on the ends and the Ali Qapu Pavilion and the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque on the sides.  The square has lawns, gardens and a large pool - it was rather brown and dull-looking while we there but we were assured that it was lovely in Spring. We went into the Royal Mosque first - it is covered with patterned blue tiles, each section having its own distinctive pattern.  The arrangement of mosques in Iran is different from Turkey where they tend to be single enclosed areas in the same way that a Christian church is a single enclosed area.  In Iran the mosques are more walled courtyards with a domed area as the centre piece and a lot of open space.  Both the walls and the buildings are covered in patterned tiles. From there we went to the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque also called the Lady Mosque as women could worship there. Next was the Ali Qapu Palace, mainly to take pictures of the square.  After lunch we headed through the Bazaar to the Friday Mosque which is the largest mosque in the city.  This was most interesting and it had several domed sections that spread over a large area.  The oldest sections of this mosque were decorated not with tiles but with sculpted stone, still in excellent condition.

Royal Square, Isfahan

Back in the Bazaar which spread for miles under cover, we wandered around for quite a while exploring the shops and watching various artisans at work.  When we finally reached the main square we went back to the hotel for a rest and then a meal

Miniaturist, Bazaar, Isfahan

Thursday 3 December  Isfahan (Iran) - Tehran (Iran)  We all slept very well last night.  Peter and I rose at 0545 and walked down to the river to watch the sunrise on the two bridges which is supposed to be beautiful.  It was.  However, it was very cold.  After breakfast Merelyn and I went back to the bridges so she could see their arcaded footpaths and ceramic decorations.

At 1400 we caught the bus back to Tehran.  A young Persian called Abbas struck up a conversation with us and when he found we were travelling to the Caspian Sea the next day asked if he could come with us.  We said he should make arrangements with Gino.  When we got to the bus station in Tehran the whole party was unsure how to get back to the hotel where the bus was.  We got lost a number of times but finally made it.

Part 2

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