Daytrip to the hills and Caspian Sea

Masouleh

Having slept early last night, I woke about 0400 but lay in bed till 0730. At breakfast, I met the Japanese girls I had seen in Yazd. They flew here and are headed to Ardabil.

I have a very empty sad feeling today, from having left the wonderful people I had met in Yazd. People back in New Zealand make me feel “strange” for travelling the way I do. They make me feel “normal”.

Today I wanted to go to the hillside villages accessible from Rasht. I knew I had to take a shared taxi (savari) to Fuman first and I tried to catch a taxi to the savari station. But the helpful man in the taxi told me to where to find a savari nearby; he even wrote me a note!

Getting to Fuman was quick and easy. The fact that this is a very wet part of Iran is evident in the scenery. It was very green, perhaps like a mix of England, Sri Lanka and Bali rolled up together with wooded areas, tea plantations and rice paddies (respectively).

The driver tried to talk me into paying extra to be taken to Masouleh. I resisted so he dropped me off at a savari station to complete my journey to Masouleh.

Masouleh reminded me of Pakistani hillside villages. It was pretty until when you look at things close up. It does get a little scungy with litter. I wandered around and got chatting to Alireza, who works for Shell, and his partner.

They had been to Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea. It’s supposed to be quite nice with the lotuses and birds. But he tells me the lotuses are gone but the leaves are huge, and the birds aren’t there yet. They kindly paid for the couple of teas which I had. I was thirsty and bottled water was nowhere to be found.

Text continues after this gallery.

Bandar Anzali and the Caspian, by accident

I took a savari back to Fuman where I tried looking for another back to Rasht. The old couple from the first savari were going to Bandar Anzali. Due to some miscommunication, I got put in the same savari as them. We headed back towards Rasht and then went through parts of Rasht before ending up at Bandar Anzali.

I couldn’t work out what exactly went wrong but the driver gouged me with the price. But I had wanted to come to the area anyway and this saved me the extra trip.

At Bandar Anzali I ate at the Ancient Golsang restaurant. I asked for a fesejan but got a kubideh with salad, yummy pickled garlic, yoghurt and mashed olives. It was pricey at IRR45000 as the extras were all charged, but it would have been enough for two to share.

I explored the Caspian seaside town’s corniche. The water in the port was quite black and yukky. The best caviar comes from sturgeon swimming in these waters. Is that the reason caviar is black? Looking further away, it was a very dark bluish colour. I wasn’t picturesque. It was very hot and humid here.

Masouleh was definitely the more worthwhile part of the day, but it’s not all about enjoyment but also experiencing and seeing what’s there and what’s real.

Text continues after this gallery.

Back at Rasht

It was an effortless taxi ride back to Rasht. After a shower, I finally had some quiet time. Then a feeling of emptiness hit me, from missing all the awesome travel companions that I had met in Rasht. This is so unlike me.

I distracted myself by reading the Straits Times from Singapore which I had taken from the plane. Finally! Wandering out around 1900, Rasht was busy. I walked around but couldn’t work up and appetite. I returned back to the hotel, ate half a biscuit and an orange. Then bed.
 

Rasht Municipality Building.