DAY 45- BANDAR-E-PAHLAVI

45) THURSDAY, 11 AUGUST 1977 : 220KMS. - BANDAR-E-PAHLAVI

From ARDABIL we drove via ASTARA,  a seaside town and bordering USSR by the largest freshwater in the world, lake Caspian.  The road was meandering up in the mountains and dusty. On another side of the road is RUSSIA territory, apparently with barbed wire fences and border checkpoints.

Astara - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

We continued from ASTARA steadily to the south via BURSARA LISSAR until we reached the seaside town BANDAR-R-PAHLAVI (BANDAR-ANZALI) to camp overnight. The beach was rather dirty (not as clean as it should). 

Anzali - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

There were many people swimming in the sea, mostly men, women and children were less. It is typical for Muslim society and eastern countries that men are most likely to take part in outdoors recreation or in public than women.

FROM ARDABIL (A) TO BANDAR-E-PAHLAVI OR ANZALI (B)

 CASPIAN SEA FROM ORBIT : SOURCE - WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 The Caspian Sea (Azerbaijani: Xəzər dənizi, Persian: دریای مازندران /دریای خزر, Russian: Каспийское море, Kazakh: Каспий теңізі, Turkmen: Hazar deňizi) is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 (143,200 sq mi) (not including Garabogazköl Aylagy) and a volume of 78,200 km3 (18,800 cu mi). It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) and is bounded to the northwest by Russia, to the west by Azerbaijan, to the south by Iran, to the southeast by Turkmenistan, and to the northeast by Kazakhstan. 

DAY 44 - ARDABIL

44) WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 1977 : 216KMS. - ARDABIL

From TABRIZ  we drove  steadily along the Asian Highway route to BOSTANABAD. Some parts of the road were rough and  dusty. I saw houses look like those in Turkey, but  it was obviously that the house walls were plastered with clay mixed with grass. Occasionally, we saw  women  working  on mixed clay and grass (or perhaps cow dung ) as round discs and let them dry under the sun to be used as fuel for cooking as well as for repairing the house walls simultaneously (! ?).

Clay/mud house - Photo : gizmocrazed.com / Bing images search

Most women in rural areas still cover their heads with black long veil (chador) to  the ground  according to the faith of Islam, they are  looking weird.

Iranian women with chador - Photoio : tbk.news.blogspot / Bing images search

We passed through SARAB, NIR and stop for camping overnight in ARDABIL.

Pirbidaq village, Azerbaijan (ARDABIL) - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search

Ardabil silk carpet - Photo : Bing images search

Persian carpets patterned with stripes woven exclusively from ARDABIL are mostly finished by labors of children and women who have small fingers, which are suitable for delicate silk knotted.

  Ardabil - Photo : bss.sfsu.edu (by MB Summer 2006) / Bing imnages search

 

 

DAY 43 - TABRIZ

43) TUESDAY, 9 AUGUST 1977 : 252KMS. - TABRIZ

We left  RIZAIYEH along the rugged path towards the north through SHAKPUR .  It was very dusty road  and we had to pay attention to the windshield that might be hit by rocks flying from the wheels of  cars surpassing  up and those coming from the opposite direction. We passed  TASUG, KUZEH, YUKAN into the Asian Highway I in SUFIAN.  It was quite dangerous as  a single lane road and there were many cars.

Tabriz - Photo : skyscrapercity.com / Bing images search

We stopped to overnight at TABRIZ , famous for its exquisitely woven rugs , which are very beautiful.

In the morning, I went to cash travelers checks for 100.- US $ (1DM = 30.50R.)

Tabriz hand woven silk carpet - Photo : Bing images search

Hand-woven silk rug bears  the name of the city TABRIZ, IRAN.  It is indescribable beautiful but I wonder if it can fly like the one of Aladin ! :-D


 ASIAN HIGHWAY I : WIKIPEDIA


 

AH1 is the longest route of the Asian Highway Network, running 12,845 miles (20,557 km) from Tokyo, Japan via Korea, China, Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to the border between Turkey and Bulgaria west of Istanbul where it joins end-on with European route E80.

V. IRAN - WORLD HERITAGE OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE AND RENOWNED PERSIAN CARPETS

DAY 42 - RIZAIYEH

42) MONDAY, 8 AUGUST 1977 : 318KMS. - RIZAIYEH

We left the military camp, keeping on the direction to GÜRPINA, BASKALE until we reached  YÜKSEKOVA . This path of the road is zigzagging  up the mountain . Then  we continued  to ESENDERE and  crossed  the border into IRAN in SERO. We had to fill up form, it took quite some time but no problem.   

Road near Yüksegova - Photo : yüksegovaguncel.com / Bing images search

The police has recorded in our passports  what we have taken into the country with us, such as a movie camera and cameras. This was probably as to prevent imports or smuggled goods to be resold  and to prevent of espionage as IRAN have been  under  a war with IRAQ.

Then we drove to the city RIZAIYEH to overnight .