Running Errands
Today we needed to take care of some things in Esfahan. Lucie needed to get a visa extension, and I needed to get my camera sensor cleaned as a result of the dusty and sandy conditions in the past few days. And of course we wanted to see a bit more of the city because yesterday’s sightseeing session was rather short.
Visa extension
Extending a visa is a long process that started on 7:30 a.m. and ended around 4 hours later. Countless interviews, running to the bank for making the payment and returning the receipt are some steps involved. But in the end Lucie was successful and her visa got extended by another 30 days, which will be enough until we cross to Turkmenistan.
Shopping in Esfahan
Unlike in European cities, shopping in Esfahan is straight forward. Shops of the same kind are usually grouped and along the same streets. When I was walking to the photo store for the sensor cleaning, I first passed by dozens if not hundreds of car repair shops. Once I reached the street of the photo store, basically all shops were selling electronics. During the day, we also discovered streets that sell household items. So basically, if you know in which street you can get what, you basically have all the shops in one cluster. This is actually very convenient.
Sightseeing
Today we were not a group of 8 for sightseeing but only Lucie and me. This gave us much more flexibility and we could actually visit the mosque we saw from outside yesterday, we walked through the famous Bazar-e Bozorg and spent some time over lunch in one of the beautiful parks in the center. Unfortunately we arrived a bit too late at the famous Jameh Mosque so we only could see it from outside.
Another family evening
For the third evening in a row, we were up to 15 people. Unfortunately I was not at all in the mood for it today, I was tired from a whole day of walking through the city, did not sleep much the nights before and would have preferred a calm evening. Also, going to sleep early was not possible as we only had dinner at 22:45 because some guests arrived late. I guess this is the downside of staying at locals, but still, I don’t regret it, as you really get to know a lot about Iranians.
Next steps
Tomorrow we will leave Esfahan however and go north with the bus. As we should be in Turkmenistan in 12 days, it is impossible to cycle the remaining 1500 km. We will most likely go up to the Caspian Sea and then follow the coast line towards Gorgan and finally towards Mashad.
