We urgently need fresh water. On the way to the mountain village of Kandovan, about 55 kilometres away, we stop at a small mosque. Here we ask for drinking water. Friendly as the porter is, he gives me a 0.33-litre bottle of water.
I briefly try to explain to him that we need a little more, but don't mention that we have a tank of almost 100 litres to fill. So he opens the kitchen door and I am allowed to run back and forth to our Felix several times with our 6-litre gallons, which we have been carrying with us since Tunisia and which have already provided us with valuable services. We chat while the canisters fill up. He is actually an engineer, but can't find a proper job at the moment. That's just the way it is.
When we have filled our tank about halfway, we decide that enough is enough. Somehow we don't want to block the road for hours and decide that 50 litres is enough.
So off we go to Kandovan. Over thousands of years, volcanic ash and deposits from the Sahand have formed a landscape of cone-shaped rocky peaks. When the Mongols invaded the country in the 13th century, the people here took advantage of this landscape and dug caves into the tuff cones to hide in.
Over the centuries, the buildings and caves were extended, creating a romantic village shape, which today is mainly a labyrinth for tourists. The village reminds us of the far more extensive Tuff cone landscapes in Cappadocia.
And it's cold, we're at an altitude of over 2200 metres, the snow persists despite the bright sunshine and we're shivering. Gerd has to make a quick business call, we have a cosy breakfast in the only 5-star hotel (although where the stars come from is a mystery to us, but we were full and everything was fine) and stroll through the winding alleyways. Passing souvenir shops and street food stalls, we return to our Felix after an hour or two. Because today we want to cover a bit more ground.
When we arrive at Felix, we are asked by a couple if we have any cups. They had tea for us, typical mountain tea. When we hand them our cups, they add biscuits, nuts, trail mix and finally a glass of mountain tea. "Welcome to Iran and merci for visiting our country!"
Once again we are sitting in our camper van, travelling over bumpy roads and wiping tears of joy and emotion from our cheeks. How can a whole nation be so hospitable? Full of gratitude, we nibble on the nuts and can only marvel.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
Do you think our travel experiences might be of interest to others? Then you can share the Share post quietly. By e-mail or however you want to do it.
In addition, if you haven't already done so, you can use our Newsletter subscribe. Here you will receive all our experiences in your mailbox whenever we publish something new or once a week on Fridays: live-pur.ch/newsletter
We are also very happy to hear your views, your tips or your questions. Just comment on the post!
