(12) From Turkey to Iran through Doğubayazıt

17 December 2012 - 3 January 2013, Trabzon, Doğubayazıt and Iran

View of Trabzon from its hill

On 17 December I went to Trabzon, a clean and nice Turkish town facing the black sea, in order to apply for my Iranian visa. The Iranian consulate in Trabzon is well-known for issuing visa in only one day and without requiring any strange procedure as it usually happens at other Iranian consulates.

Ishak Pasha Palace, Dogubayazit

Visa to European citizens is usually granted easily – with some exceptions like British citizens. From time to time, however, the consulate needs to prove that visa is not given to everybody and thus small imperfections in the application or passport are sought. I had not known it until it happened to me: my application was rejected for a small procedural cavil.

Luckily, I had anyway planned to return home for Christmas and hence could apply for visa at the Iranian consulate of Milano, where the procedure is also rather easy and quick.

Ishak Pasha Palace at summer (source: internet)

On 19 December a plane from Trabzon brought me back home and on 26 December I flew back to the same town. It was like pausing the travel and resuming it from the point left: likewise a book closed on a certain page and reopened afterwards at the same point. Following one week of full-time family commitments, I restarted the travel with a different feeling: more motivated and recharged with new energy after the Christmas celebrations with my family and friends.

From Trabzon a night bus brought me to Doğubayazıt - in east Turkey - approximately forty kilometers before the Iranian border.

Contrasting to the mild weather of other parts of Turkey in this area - enveloped by mountains - winter is really freezing. I experienced in Igdir where a temperature of -14 degrees welcomed me in the early morning.

In Doğubayazıt I passed one day exploring the town and its surrounding imposing snowy mounts. A couple of hours of walking from town lies the beautiful Ishak Pasha Palace of the Ottoman-period whose construction was started in 1685 and completed in 1784.

The last day of 2012 I woke up in the early morning and started walking towards Iran. The melody of the chants played by the mosques, the chilling air made agreeable by a tepid sun and the sight of the white mounts perched on the clean blue sky made the experience not only venturesome but also picturesque.

Walking toward Iran

After a while I found my self on a deserted road with a Turkish military base running aside. Not feeling comfortable in being alone with armed soldiers who tried to talk to me I reached to the main road where I hitched a car of a frontier officer who brought me straight to the Iranian border.

As westerner at the Iranian border I was made skip the line and meet a special officer. A charming woman wearing the black chador checked my papers, advised me about Iran and was available to answer my questions. In short, she gave me a warm Iranian welcome. At the end I made the typical mistake of the dumb tourist as I tried to shake her hand and, of course, she could not do it.

Flag of Iran after the border

Finally, on 31 December at around lunch time I managed to enter Iran - just in time to escape the New Year's Celebration as Iran in fact does not celebrate it at all.

Once in Iran I reached the small town of Bazargan from where a bus brought me to Urumye, where I hoped to see its salty lake.

In Urumye in fact people are not Persian (Pars - likewise the majority of the country) but mainly Azeris - who are called Turks as their language is similar to Turkish - and Kurdish. Finally I could not see the lake – that is said to be almost completely dried out - and ended up passing my time with some Kurdish students who welcomed me at their place with the warmth of their region and with the typical enthusiasm for foreigners.

Dinner with Kurdish Students

Images of the leaders of the Islamic Republic