Tehran to Esphan
In the early hours of the morning the two Swagman buses arrived, they had done an overnight run from the border. The crews Bob Ashford & John Witchard were tired but the passengers had slept on the run down and were now looking for a hot shower and breakfast. We were due to leave this morning but as we wanted to travel with the others we agreed to make a late start and not get to Esphan till the next day , this would give them time to see Tehran and catch us up the next day. To help the delay we got every ones luggage down from the roof which always takes them a couple of hours to sort out and repack. The others headed off into Tehran for the day and about lunch time we finally set off in the direction of Esphan. We were going to stop at Qom on the way. Qom became famous in later years as the city from which Ayatollah Khomeini ruled Iran.

Tehran at Night

Mosque at Qom

Local Tribesman

Tiled Mosque
The city of Qom is best known for its religious university Howzeh-ye Elmieh. It attracts a lot of students from all over Iran and the rest of the world who want to become a mullah. Imam Khomeini is probably the most famous among those who studied the Quran here. The Holy Shrine of Hazrat-é Ma'sumeh is the burial place of Fatima, the daughter of the 7th Imam and sister of the Reza, the 8th Imam. It is the most important one in Qom. Only the Shrine of Imam Reza himself, in Mashhad, is even more important to the Shiites.

After visiting Qom we take a detour to the city of Kashan. The city is world famous for its carpets. But besides the carpets, Kashan also has a name for silk, ceramics, copper ware and rosewater. We visited the bazaar which has to be one of the most interesting I have seen. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and just loved the rose flavoured ice cream. I sat in a cafe eating ice cream drinking green tea and soking up the music. (Sound Bite)

Mausoleum of Shahzadeh Abraham
Kashan is a town on the edge of the Kavir Desert and was an ideal opportunity to spend the night in a really remote location. We headed out of town looking for somewhere we could camp to take advantage of the desert location. After about 75kms we turned of the road and drove across the desert until we were well clear of the road. There was nothing as far as the eye could see and as dusk fell you had this amazing feeling of being alone and insignificant in a vast landscape. There was a large hill behind us and to capture the scene Jos and I climbed to the top and watched the sun drop below the horizon. By the time we got back to camp it was dark, not the kind of dark you have in the city but an inky black that is only broken by the light from the stars. Stars there were millions of them, you don't see stars until you are well away from civilization, clear of the lights of the city and then they just fill the night sky. You haven't lived until you make your bed in the desert and go to sleep looking up at the greatest sight this world has to offer.

View from the hill
Today we head for Esphan ( or Isfahan ) in my view the most beautiful city in Iran. The city has the most beautiful central square with the best example of tiled mosque you will see anywhere. Running around two sides of the square behind the street front is the bazaar. Going into the bazaar is like entering Alladin's cave, you are bound to get lost , alleyways go of in all directions. The amazing thing is you don't care about being lost, there is so much to see, hear and smell. It dawns on you after awhile that the bazaar is in sections, turn down one ally and you are surrounded by shops selling cooking pots, the next ally is full of material, there are shoes, gold, spices, vegetables, clothes and on and on. In the yards behind the craftsmen are hard at work making many of the treasures for sale in the bazaar. One place we found was all workshops making the ornamental brass pots so popular in Iran. The sound of all the workmen hammering away was deafening, we nick named it the street of a thousand hammers, when ever I here "Tinman" by America it reminds me of this street.

I was still on the lookout for carved Agates and found some very nice examples in the bazaar. They are used as we would use a seal to sign a document. Some are loose other are set in rings or on a chain, families have their own design which tells others who they are, a bit like the Scottish and their tartan.

My growing Agate collection.

Tiled entrance to mosque

Central square Esphan - the bazaar is behind the shops.

More Pictures of Esphan

Driver Ian at pot shop

Bazaar Esphan

Carpets in the Bazaar
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An overland journey to India following the India overland trail through Belgium, Germany, Austria Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, & Nepal. Visting sites of Dubrovnic, Split, Kotor, Athens, Kerimoti, Istanbul, Galipolli, Troy, Delphi, Efes, Goreme, Nemrut, Tehran, Esphan, Persepolis, Shiraz, Kerman, Bam, Quetta, Kandahar, Kabul, Bamian Valley, Kyhber Pass, Indus river, Lahore, Punjab, Amritsar, Kashmir, Delhi, Agra, Taj Mahal, Vanaris, Patna, Raj Path, Kathmandu, Himalyas. All this undertaken in a 20 year old Asian Greyhound, Swagman Tours, LS Bristol bus. This Indiaoverland company was held together by Norm Harris an expatriate Aussie living in Windsor. With drivers like Bob Ashford, Geoff Lawrence, Clive Parker, Dave Watt, Ronnie Martin, John Witchard, Ken Mcdonald, Derek Amey & couriers Fred Fisher, Jos Livingstone, Peter Swift, Kieren Smith & mechanics Gordon Hammond, Graham Libby, Pomme John & Rastas just to name a few.