Shiraz - Yazd - Esfahan

  Esfahan, Iran
Saturday, November 17, 2007

Itinerary : Shiraz - Yazd - Esfahan
Dates : 13th November to 17th of November 2007
Mileage in Iran : 2100 km
Mileage so far : 13800 km
 
Our second big stop of our Iran tour would be in Yazd, which is 350 km north-east from Shiraz. Yazd is apparently one if the nicest cities in Iran with it's "mud" made buildings and it's apparently one of the oldest city in the world which is still inhabited. So I was quite impatient to reach Yazd as I had no idea how could the oldest city in the world look like! It was an easy ride to Yazd with world class roads in the desert. We still didn't figure out the petrol card issue or the Benzene card issue like they call it here, so refuelling is a bit difficult as we have to negotiate and try to buy petrol from other people's cards. As weird as it may sound, petrol is a hassle to get in this country! Along the way to Yazd, you go trough small little towns and it's surprising to see the entire town made exclusively of mud! Interesting and it's very nice to look at...Especially when you are use to cement, paint, glass,...
 

Little town on our way to Yazd...

A mud mosque...in the middle of the desert...

Town with a green city policy...Like Singapore...

 










When we reached Yazd, we had decided to stay in a hotel called the silk road hotel which the lonely planet described as a nice descent hotel in the centre of Yazd, very near the bazaar and the old city. So when we turned in the hotel street, we were a bit surprised to discover the entrance of the hotel which looked like an abandoned hotel! We still jumped off our bikes to have a look at what could be hiding inside...Well it was a great idea because the moment you go trough the unwelcoming entrance door, you realize that it's actually a very cosy hotel with a very nice interior area. So when they said it was 16 usd/room, we couldn't refuse.
 

Our hotel entrance...Hmm...

Mixing mud with water, renovating the hotel...

look good together no? same facial expression...

 
 








Then, while we were having dinner, an alien dressed like us approached us...Meaning he was wearing bike boots and pants, had dust around his eyes and mosquitoes on his teeth. Another Biker! Funny that we bumped into this Irish guy in the middle of nowhere that was doing the same route but in the other direction with a GS 1100.
He's a bit more hardcore than us as he will be travelling for almost a year and when we told him that we were on a budget of 80 usd/day, he replied that this amount of money would last him a week! Well he stays 4-5 days in the same place so he doesn't have petrol to pay everyday so I guess it's possible...
 

Joe, voted UK biker of the year...Crazy Irish...

 
He gave us a few tips and he explained us how to finally get this benzene card! So after my morning walk around town, we headed to this building in Yazd where we had to meet several people in different offices, and the last office we went to finally handed us the 300-litre card we requested. 150 usd for a 300 liter petrol card...Then we understood that we still had to pay at the petrol station 10 cents per liter. So at the end, the price of petrol in Iran is 60 cents/litre, which is till cheap compared to Europe. Big relief to have this card as we knew it would save us time and energy negotiating petrol. 
 

Too early for shopping in the bazaar...

The Big Ben...Yazd version

Mosque in our street...

Got the Benzene card! Finally!

 
So to celebrate, we decide to "waste" some petrol and go do some real desert riding...Meaning no road, no tarmac and just cut across in the sand. So for the first time during the trip we rode with no bags, no tank bags, and emptied the side panniers...It was great! Blue sky, 26 degrees, absolutely no one at sight and we could ride wherever we wanted...We even took off our shirts to tan for a while...Great experience...But a tiring one as well...Very hard to get those bikes around on sand and doing 50 km in the desert felt like a real workout...Went to bed early that night, I think I passed out with my gear on at 8 pm...
 

Alone in the desert, luckily I have the GPS...

In the desert with crazy Joe...

Never stop on sand!

sunken in the sand...

Have to hide in the desert to tan...

Maybe it's easier in the desert with this GS...

 
We really enjoyed the peace of this little town and so we decided that we would stay another day to do a bit of sightseeing. I started the day a bit earlier as I was still having this rear tyre problem and I was starting to get tired of pumping up this rear tyre every morning, so I decided to have it fixed and have a patch stuck in the inside of the tyre. What a stupid decision to have decided to fix this tyre today as it was Friday! The town was just dead and I had to ride for maybe an hour before I could find a tyre shop that was open. So I finally got my tyre fixed which will allow me to have a couple of minutes more of sleep in the morning... The only thing I had left to do was an oil and filter change which I quickly did in front of the hotel. Felt good that morning to have finally settled the bike and have my low beam light working again (bought a bulb the day before for 1 usd), my tyre finally fixed and my oil/filter changed...I'm all set for another 5000 km without any 'dirty hand" work...Normally...Oh and on my way back to the hotel from the tyre shop, I noticed a cloths shop which was open and I had to buy the "desert scarf" so that I could really look like a real "desert man".
 

Afghan kid repairing my tyre...

Little paradise inside the hotel...with new scarf!

No shopping on fridays ladies...

 
Then in the afternoon, we went to visit the tower of silence which is maybe 10 km away from the city. It's towers on hills with an open top and a big hole in the middle. Apparently, dead people were put in the holes for the Vultures to eat...It's not a very nice story but it's a nice sight to visit. We hanged around for a while and took advantage of the sunset which came at 4h30 pm! Hard climb up but the view is worthwhile. 
 

The tower of silence...oouuhhh...

2nd tower of silence...Not me! behind me...

Yazd from the top...

The tower of silence from the top...

Sunset on the towers...not romantic place...

Enjoying my new "touareg" status...

The famous hole on top of the tower...

Yazd Chu Kang HDB...

 
To finish this cool day, we decided to walk around in the evening in the narrow alleys of the bazaar and we accidentally fell in this hotel restaurant which we understood was one of the best restaurant of Yazd. The decor was nice and the food was great. Especially when you get to see the chef! With a chef looking like that, the food can only be good! I still looked for moustache hair in my plate tough...  
 

Mosque beside our hotel in Yazd...

My alarm clock at 5 am...

Huh...Chicken please...

Nice restaurant in Yazd...

How real chefs look like...

 









The next day was a bit of a sad day as we had planned to leave Yazd and we felt really comfortable here so I decided to have a last picture with my new friend that was taking care of my bike during my stay...
 

Goodbye picture with my new friend from Yazd...

 
We jumped on the bike hoping that Esfahan would be a relaxing place as well...I still left Yazd with a big smile under my helmet because I was keen to discover Esfahan...The ride to Esfahan was quite fast as it is only 310 km away from Yazd and the roads are really good in Iran. So in 3h30 hours we reached Esfahan without any problems...Nothing much exciting on the road and we just cruised in a single shot trough the desert road. Esfahan is much bigger than Yazd so it's not as quiet and relaxing place but I still feet comfortable here...This adventure is not feeling like an adventure anymore! It's becoming too nice and relaxing! I have to convince Kevin to go along the Iraq border in the mountains to sleep in shit hotels in the sleeping bags at -10 degrees a bit! Once we reached the hotel, we hanged our bike gears and jumped into our city cloths to go discover a bit this city and headed for Emam square. It's a very nice square with a market and it's apparently the second biggest square in the world after Tian An Men square in Beijing. Another highlight of Esfahan is the bridge...
 

Mosque in Emam square...

Emam square by night...

Nice lighting on Emam square...

Bazaar in Emam square...

Women's paradise...The Bazaar! 2 km of shops...

Maybe not enough water here so...

Nice bridge connecting our hotel to the Square...

So we are going to stay 2 days in Esfahan and hopefully get some nice daytime pictures...
Then I am going to enter a brainstorming session with Kevin to plan the rest of the trip and our itinerary in Iran. Indeed, we have loads of options but we are limited by time and I have to leave Iran by the 23rd of November...So my next destination is at the moment still a mistery...