We leave Tehran and the genial Mr. Mousavi of the Firouzeh Hotel to go north – but not before making a scheduled stop in the city.
The American Embassy in Tehran has not been used by the U.S. since the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 – described by western media as an entanglement of «vengeance and mutual incomprehension». In Iran, the hostage taking was widely seen as a blow against the United States and its influence in Iran, its attempts to undermine the Iranian Revolution, and its longstanding support of the recently overthrown Shah of Iran.
The name currently given to the compound by many Iranians is variously translated as «Den of espionage» and «Nest of spies».
The brick walls that form the perimeter of the city block-sized compound feature a number of anti-American murals commissioned by the government of Iran. These are quite famous, and we were not going to leave Iran without trying to get a picture or two of these.
Murals along the walls
The former embassy lies at an intersection of several busy streets, Taleqani and S. Mofatteh, and so we would have to time it just right to avoid traffic and also do it without being seen, as the area is partially off-limits and we don’t know how any guards will react to us taking photos of it.
As we pass, we take advantage of the slowing traffic and Lars jumps out of the car with the camera. As Snorre places the car in an advantageous position for the murals in the background, Lars starts snapping pictures.
Having done our deed, we continue on the way north to see a bit of this great country, while waiting for Snorres Turkmenistan transit visa to come through.
We decide on a leisurely trip along the Caspian Sea.
From Tehran we plan to go 250 km almost straight north, over the mountains, via Chalus to Ramsar on the Caspian Sea coast. We’ll stay there for one night, before continuing on to Masuleh, a stepped village that is 1000 years old. After spending the night in a traditional village home which Mr. Mousavi has arranged for us, we’ll drive south towards Qazvin and the Castle of the Assassins, high in the Alborz mountain range, before returning to Tehran.
Our road-trip
The trip towards Chalus is nice, with a lot of winding mountain roads. Traffic isn’t too bad, but as soon as we get close to the Caspian Sea we notice the humidity increasing drastically.
The long road to the coast
Now heat, up to a certain point, is ok – but humidity in addition to heat is really not a good thing. Clothing sticks to all parts of your body and even the backs of your fingers start to sweat. As we get closer to Chalus, we decide to find somewhere to eat, maybe even with wi-fi.
On the road and over the mountain – 3266 meters above sea level
As luck would have it, we find a horrible modern fast-food chain (Snorre insists that we don’t mention which one) and go in.
Air condition. Great!
After wolfing down the processed proteins, we go online and take advantage of what for once is a brodband uplink. We spend 45 minutes uploading the latest video for one of our sponsors and continue on the way to Ramsar.
The Caspian Sea is a huge body of water that can’t seem to make up its mind about what it wants to be: either the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. What it definitely is, is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area alone.
The beautiful, idyllic Caspian Sea at 16 meters below sea level
This area should by all accounts be lush and teeming with wildlife. Unfortunately, most of it seems to be fighting a losing battle, as underwater oil and gas pipelines have been constructed or proposed. Its lower reaches are heavily developed with numerous unregulated releases of chemical and biological pollutants, and there is evidence to suggest that the Volga is one of the principal sources of contaminants into the Caspian.
So, allright then.
The not-so-idyllic Caspian Sea
After 250 km we reach Ramsar in the evening. We almost don’t get lost and reach the Noziah Hotel.
It looks like it’s been plucked out of the tacky part of Disneyland.
You know the type: a building so plastered with multi-colored lights and digital signs, it would be banned from the Vegas strip.
The Noziah hotel
After reaching an agreement with the concierge, we go to our room and immediately collapse on the beds.
It’s 8pm.
Damn this sweltering heat!
Although we only did 251 km this day, we had many hours of driving due to twisty mountain roads and crazy traffic that usually is congested – at the same time as it can zoom up to suicidal speeds.
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