If you are wandering how have I got from Baeza to Iran the answer is quite simple and plain. I was describing our journey in Spain from memory and I will do the same for Iran. Somehow I keep failing to write the blog as I go. Well in Iran, considering the censorship and internet blockade that wouldn't be a good idea anyway. Since the last post two journeys happened. First in march we have been to Iran and during the May holidays we went to Venice (if you can consider that a journey). I have stopped posting because I didn't have enough time. I will try to make up for this by posting more frequently. I will be back to Spain from time to time, because I didn't finish my story there. I will label the post so any one who would like to read about one country would be able to do that.
Zapis, ki ga bom objavljal od tu naprej je nastal že med potovanjem. Vsak večer sem si namreč zapisal nekaj kratkih vtisov. Prevod v angleščino bom pa opravil sedaj.
What I am about to post from here onward I have written during the trip. Every evening I have written down few short impressions. English translation I will be doing as I go along.
Prvi dan za nami. Izjemno naporno. Pričetek potovanja - Ljubljana Dolgi most. Proti Veneciji. V Veneciji se prvič zaplete. Letalo Emiratov ne more zapreti vrat, Zamujamo zelo. Odletimo z skoraj enourno zamudo. Toliko o Emiratih. Letala so relativno udobna tudi v ekonomskem razredu. Čakanje nas je pa vendarle zdelalo tako, da smo Dubai težko dočakali . Prispeli smo ob 06:00 po lokalnem času. V Sloveniji je bila ura 03:00. V Tehranu pa 05:30. Dubai primerno topel in zaradi zamude kaotičen. Nekako se le vseh 44 vkrca ne letalo in odrinemo zopet z enourno zamudo. Tehran nas pozdravi z zatohlim letališčem in vrstami pred kontrolo potnih listov. Temu je po radostnem snidenju s prtljago in nekoliko nespretnim poskusom oponašanja Iranskih modnih navad, ponovni rentgenski pregled prtljage, za katerega ni bilo jasno ali je varnostne oz carinske narave. Vkrcamo se na avtobus in se odpravimo v Tehran.
First day is over. Very exhausting. Journey starting point - Ljubljana Dolgi Most. To Venice. In Venice first complication. Thay could not close the door on Emirate's plane. We are very late. Taking off with one hour delay. So much about Emirates.The airplane was relatively comfortable even in the economy class. But waiting has took its toll and we could hardly wait to reach Dubai. We have arrived at 06:00 am local time. It was 03:00 am in Slovenia. In Teheran it was 05:00 am. Dubai was nicely warm and somewhat chaotic, because of the delay. Somehow all 44 of us boarded the next plane and we took off, again with one hour delay. Tehran have greeted us with stuffy airport and long lines in front of the passport control. After a joyful reunion with luggage and somewhat clumsy attempts imitating Iranian fashion habits, we had to pass through another X-ray check of our luggage, for which it was not quite clear was it for security or custom purposes. Finally we have boarded the bus and continued towards Tehran.
Obubožanje je vidno, na salbo vzdrževanih zgradbah, na avtomobilih vendar ne na obrazih. Tudi obleke so podobne tistim, ki jih sicer vidiš na Bližnjem vzhodu. Bazar v Teheranu naj bi bil relativno nov in zelo zanimiv, vendar je pa pravo človeško mravljišče. Naša skupina je gotovo bodla v oči. Vendar razen vljudnega zanimanja za to od kod smo nobenih drugih težav. Mladenič z nekoliko boljšo angleščino nas nekaj časa vztrajno spraševal kaj menimo o Irancih in Iranu. Zdelo se nama je, da je z našimi odgovori, kako je Iran lepa dežela in kako so Iranci lepi in prijazni ljudje, ni bil zadovoljen. Ali je to bila namerna provokacija ali je mladenič upal, da bo slab vtis pri tujcih prispeval rahljanju vezi, ki Iran dušijo in potiskajo v bedo, ne bom nikoli vedel.
One can see impoverishment on badly maintained buildings, on old cars, but not on the people faces. People are dressed like anywhere else in the Middle East. Tehran Bazaar is not very old but it was still very interesting, like real human anthill. Our group must have stood out. But there was no trouble only polite inquiries about where we are coming from. One young man with quite passable English was very persistent in asking us what do we think about Iran and Iranian people. It has seemed to us that he was not happy with us answering that Iran is beautiful country and Iranians are good looking and very kind. I am not sure if this was an intentional provocation or if young man was hoping that bad opinion from the foreigner might somehow loosen the ties that are suffocating Iran.
Qajar shah palace for which I have forgotten the name, only to find out later that it is Golestan palace was our next stop. After obligatory not very successful architectural photography we have visited shiny interior which we are not allowed to photograph. We have got some plush slippers to put on our shoes, with which tourist shine up the marble staircase which take us, under the watchful eyes of wax figures of the shah guards, to a huge receiving hall full of porcelain gifts from the 19th century.
Sledi ogled neprecenljivega bogastva v trezorju Narodne banke. Do tam ne prideš kar tako. Najprej smo zardi lažjega pustili vse torbe na avtobusu s fotoaparati, ki bi tudi tu bili nekoristna prtljaga. Nato smo morali skozi dva, ponavljam dva detektorja kovin. Na enem so se v glavnem spravili na moške, na drugem pa na ženske. Tokrat smo morali pustiti vse mobilne telefone zunaj (zaradi fotografiranja). Končno si v trezorju ogledujemo bogastvo. Dragih kamnov je toliko, da se na koncu niti ne zavedaš enormne finančne vrednosti, ostanejo samo še umetelno izdelani artefakti, kakršne smo že marsikje videli.
Next we are visiting the invaluable treasures in the vault of the National Bank. It is not very easy to get there. To make it easier to pass the security, we had to leave all our bags in the bus, including our cameras, which would be useless luggage anyway. We had to go through two metal detectors, repeating two metal detectors. At the first metal detector it was man they were after and at the second they were checking mostly women. We also had to leave all our cell phones outside (because of the photography).
Finally we are able to take a look at the treasure. So many precious stones that at the end you hardly appreciate financial enormity of this wealth, all you can see are skilfully designed artifacts such as we have seen in many places.
After visit to the National Bank our local guide takes us to change money. For 100 € we have got an unbelievable sum of 4.700.000 rials. Only after repeated counting of 50 thousand bills we were satisfied. We had this distinct feeling that we are being ripped off, first because the rate was so good and second because it was not possible to count immediately so many 50.000 bills. Was our request for repeated counting the reason for correct sum we will never now.
Museum visit was fortunately cancelled and we were taken to the hotel. Hotel is OK. After the shower and short rest there was a dinner at the top of the hotel (16th floor) in the rotating restaurant with beautiful view of the night Tehran. An early bad was needed, we had to push off at six o'clock in the morning.
One can see impoverishment on badly maintained buildings, on old cars, but not on the people faces. People are dressed like anywhere else in the Middle East. Tehran Bazaar is not very old but it was still very interesting, like real human anthill. Our group must have stood out. But there was no trouble only polite inquiries about where we are coming from. One young man with quite passable English was very persistent in asking us what do we think about Iran and Iranian people. It has seemed to us that he was not happy with us answering that Iran is beautiful country and Iranians are good looking and very kind. I am not sure if this was an intentional provocation or if young man was hoping that bad opinion from the foreigner might somehow loosen the ties that are suffocating Iran.
Palača Quajar šahov, ki sem ji pozabil ime in sem naknadno ugotovil, da gre za palačo Golestan je naslednji
postanek. Po obveznih ne preveč uspešnih arhitekturnih posnetkih, obiščemo tudi bleščečo
notranjost, ki jo seveda ne smemo fotografirati. Nataknejo nam neke plišaste
copatke, s katerimi zglancamo marmorno
stopnišče, ki nas pod voščenimi figurami šahovih stražarjev pripelje v sobane
za sprejeme, v katerih se nahaja porcelanasto bogastvo, ki bilo dvoru podeljeno
skozi 19. Stoletje.
Qajar shah palace for which I have forgotten the name, only to find out later that it is Golestan palace was our next stop. After obligatory not very successful architectural photography we have visited shiny interior which we are not allowed to photograph. We have got some plush slippers to put on our shoes, with which tourist shine up the marble staircase which take us, under the watchful eyes of wax figures of the shah guards, to a huge receiving hall full of porcelain gifts from the 19th century.
Sledi ogled neprecenljivega bogastva v trezorju Narodne banke. Do tam ne prideš kar tako. Najprej smo zardi lažjega pustili vse torbe na avtobusu s fotoaparati, ki bi tudi tu bili nekoristna prtljaga. Nato smo morali skozi dva, ponavljam dva detektorja kovin. Na enem so se v glavnem spravili na moške, na drugem pa na ženske. Tokrat smo morali pustiti vse mobilne telefone zunaj (zaradi fotografiranja). Končno si v trezorju ogledujemo bogastvo. Dragih kamnov je toliko, da se na koncu niti ne zavedaš enormne finančne vrednosti, ostanejo samo še umetelno izdelani artefakti, kakršne smo že marsikje videli.
Next we are visiting the invaluable treasures in the vault of the National Bank. It is not very easy to get there. To make it easier to pass the security, we had to leave all our bags in the bus, including our cameras, which would be useless luggage anyway. We had to go through two metal detectors, repeating two metal detectors. At the first metal detector it was man they were after and at the second they were checking mostly women. We also had to leave all our cell phones outside (because of the photography).
Finally we are able to take a look at the treasure. So many precious stones that at the end you hardly appreciate financial enormity of this wealth, all you can see are skilfully designed artifacts such as we have seen in many places.
Po ogledu Nacionalne Banke nas odpelje vodička menjati denar. Za 100 € dobiva
neverjetni 4.700.000 rialov. Šele po večkratnem štetju 50 tisočakov sva
zadovoljna. Imel sva občutek, da naju goljufajo, prvič ker sva dobila tako
ugodno menjavo, drugič ker ni bilo možno takoj prešteti tisti obsežni šop
bankovcev , ki sva jih dobila. Ali je
zahteva po ponovne štetju prispevala, da je vsota prava ali ne bova zvedela.
Obisk muzeja je na našo srečo odpadel in odpeljali so nas v
hotel. Hotel je OK. Po tuširanju in krajšem počitku, večerja na vrhu hotela (16
nadstropje), v restavraciji,ki kroži, s prečudovitim pogledom na nočni Tehran.
Spat odidemo zgodaj saj odrinemo že pre 6 uro zjutrraj. After visit to the National Bank our local guide takes us to change money. For 100 € we have got an unbelievable sum of 4.700.000 rials. Only after repeated counting of 50 thousand bills we were satisfied. We had this distinct feeling that we are being ripped off, first because the rate was so good and second because it was not possible to count immediately so many 50.000 bills. Was our request for repeated counting the reason for correct sum we will never now.
Museum visit was fortunately cancelled and we were taken to the hotel. Hotel is OK. After the shower and short rest there was a dinner at the top of the hotel (16th floor) in the rotating restaurant with beautiful view of the night Tehran. An early bad was needed, we had to push off at six o'clock in the morning.
