Yazd is a Puzzle. She sits dead centre in Iran. A city of a half a million people, inhabited for 7000 years. But in a desert, with not a river in sight! Why! Why? Why, here in the glaring white of a desert? Why not, faraway there, along the green and blue hues of a river! A Puzzle! But as the desert dust settles, she bares herself. Unhurriedly! One piece at a time falls, each simple and elegant. Her four pieces fit flawlessly; [...]
Our trip to Tehran left us with many questions which we are unable to answer. What we are acutely aware of is that is not our place to pass judgement but rather to observe without prejudice. And remind ourselves that so often perceptions weigh at least as heavily as facts. And herein lies the conundrum. Iran and its relationship with the rest of the world leaves us with more questions than answers. So much of history depends on where you start from and [...]
On the slopes of the Alborz mountain range in northern Iran a remarkable village dating back to 1006 , Masuleh , still bustles with life today. The unique ochre-brown structures of Masuleh resolutely follow the steep 60-degree slope of the mountain that the village nestles on—or rather, grows from—giving the village its most unusual quality - an ingenious use of limited public space. With no marked boundaries, all rooftops double as courtyards, gardens and public thoroughfares for the inhabitants on the level above. Meandering [...]
Armenia may be a little country. But it is really BIG on grit! It stretches like a tadpole from north to south. Not a friend, or an ocean, in sight. Neighbours double down to douse, snuff out, smother and choke it. It’s a marvel Armenia is still on the world map. Just take at look! Its two long borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan totally closed. Today, its border with Turkey is closed! Its border with Azerbaijan is closed. This blockade of [...]
I often listen to music while riding and a song called Time Warp ( Rocky Horror Picture Show) rings true as we pass through Armenia and Northern Iran. “It's astounding; Time is fleeting; Madness takes its toll" With its gray identikit buildings, cars from another era and a pace of life long forgotten one could quite easily feel frozen in time Here are many pictures: Timeless villages Those utilitarian yellow steel pipes still carry water to homes, decades later. [...]
Footprints criss-cross a country. “We bear witness to history”! Large and small, old and new, they are. This way and that, over and under each other, they go. Some stroll, some march, some stagger, some stomp. It always bewilders. But in Armenia, two sets of bold footprints claim us! One set belongs to Christianity and the other to Communism. Steadfast and stubborn, these footprints zigzag Armenia, still today. Imagine Armenia is the world’s first country to declare CHRISTIANITY its official religion. Way back [...]
We drop our roll-bags, expansion bags, tank-bags, helmets and jackets with heavy sighs. We are eager for three days and three nights of no-where and nothing, in a cabin on a ferry from Burgas, Bulgaria to Batumi, Georgia. Then, a dog barks! And our hearts leap. Oh, we miss our Potter and Oscar. We crave the company of dogs. On the deck we soon meet Ruth and Homer …. And another, Pluto! What a joy. We chat and pat eagerly. Ruth’s tale crawls [...]
As a child I had a fascination for ships and anything that floats. In those days the government harbour and rail agency, the SAR & H (South African Railways and Harbours) controlled everything – they even had their own drab olive green uniform police force with standard issue snor (moustache). It was this police force that was tasked with preventing undesirables from entering the harbour, particularly for fishing. As a child I knew I had the ignorance of youth on my side, slipping [...]
Here is a last little collection of photos from Romania .... Romania has many little villages ... ... and it is a pleasure riding through them ... spot the stork ... ... it is a long winter and we wonder if she thinks she has arrived too early ... we are told some of them have to be rescued as it is still very cold. There are plenty of spots to stop and picnic. [...]
Cast your mind back to 1989. The Cold War was ending, The Berlin Wall was coming down and satellite Soviet States were demanding democracy. Mass protests and revolutions in the streets caused communist regimes to fall in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and on and on. Perhaps you remember watching this, in South Africa, on those old cathode ray Telefunken, Barlow, Hammerstein and if your parents splurged, a Sony Trinitron TV set. The country I probably remember the best was Romania! Here the [...]
