{"id":1375,"date":"2022-10-15T16:56:26","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T16:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalsmiletravel.com\/?p=1375"},"modified":"2022-10-15T16:56:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T16:56:28","slug":"van-stad-naar-platteland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalsmiletravel.com\/en\/van-stad-naar-platteland\/","title":{"rendered":"From city to countryside"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second day in Tabriz I use to walk through the city, sit in the sun and watch the daily life of the residents. It is a big city with a huge number of shops and a huge bazaar. The stores are all grouped together. For example, you have an entire street with only shoes, or a neighborhood with carpets, an area in the bazaar with only jewelry or a street with white goods. And most stores only sell one kind of products. A shop for telephones, a shop with all kinds of kit, a shop with only grinding wheels, a shop with only hats, etc. All very well organized!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, there are few sights and the only thing that was worth seeing (a huge, old city gate) was confiscated by the riot police as a gathering place and inaccessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I get back on the bike the next morning, it is still cool, but the sky is a clear blue. I want to make some progress today and have designated the fairly large city of Zanjan as my final goal, but since I have no idea what the roads are like there, it could also be elsewhere. I can no longer book hotels or view prices, but luckily I can still see the locations on Googlemaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I've still banned highways from my routes, but I'm making good progress. Fortunately, the roads are wide because there is a lot of overtaking. Even if it really isn't possible. Repeatedly I see 2 cars coming towards me and once even 2 trucks. With just a meter or 3 left for me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The worst, however, is the exhaust fumes. Almost every truck, but also many a car, carries a huge dirty black diesel cloud with it. At the end of the day, my turtleneck, which I wear over my mouth and nose, is black in the areas I breathe through. Bah. It gives me such a shit that I don't really want to go to the city anymore, because this air hangs there all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Google I see a hostel that is about 25 km outside my route, in the mountains and I decide to look it up. If it's nothing, I can still go to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The road there is already a relief. Wonderful alone on the road with the evening sun and the silhouette of the mountains in front of me. The last part is a dirt road and even Googlemaps gives up and tells me that the location must be here somewhere. Nice! Fortunately I see 2 men loading potatoes and I show them the Arabic address. Come along, they gesture, and they take me to the right place in the authentic Iranian village. I would never have found! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The streets are made of sand and cobblestones, the houses of mud and the hostel is the gathering place of the village, with a shop and places to sit together. It is pleasantly busy and of course I immediately start talking. There also appear to be day trippers from the city who spend their Sunday (our Friday) here and a few speak poor English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two townspeople who come here more often show me the village and a little later I drink tea with another group. Late at night, when everyone is gone, the lady of the house makes me a traditional meal. It is the first time that I eat and sleep in this way. There are plenty of pillows and blankets, but luckily I have my sleeping bag, because it will be a cold night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second day in Tabriz I use to walk through the city, sit in the sun and watch the daily life of the residents. It is a big city with a huge number of shops and a huge bazaar. The stores are all grouped together. For example, you have an entire street…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[24,152],"tags":[],"post_series":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t