After Masuleh we spent a night in Rasht,
mainly so we could go the 15 km to dip our toes in the Caspian Sea. We took a savaris to the coast (trying not to
look at the wild driving) and were dropped off at the beach. We had been warned not to expect too much
from the Caspian Sea. The beach and
water itself were not bad and it would have been lovely to go for a dip on this
hot summer day. But this was the Islamic
Republic of Iran and such things are not allowed.
On the right side of the beach was a huge
barrier of old posts covered completely with gray and blue tarps extending 100
m out into the water. This was h the women
could swim. On the left side of the beach
was another barrier, not quite so extensively covered, where the men could swim. Between the two barriers was about 100m of
clear beach with a few fishing boats. Here families could dip their toes but were
not allowed to swim, even when fully dressed.
On the edge of the beach near the car park were three sided concrete
boxes where families laid out a carpet and picnicked. I wanted to go into the women’s swimming
enclosure but the entrance way was quite crowded and I didn’t want to be such a
voyeur so I didn’t. But I was curious to
know if the women swam in ‘western’ swimsuits as I had seen pretty skimpy
swimwear in the shops. Anyway this was all
a lesson in how to turn a nice beach into something quite depressing through
politics.
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| Eileen getting her toes wet in the Caspian Sea (men's swimming enclosure in background) |
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| Women's swimming enclosure |
We left Rasht and using a combination of savaris
taxis (again trying not to look at the driving) and a bus to get to Tabriz, a
large city in NW Iran, with a large Kurdish and Azerbaijani population. For
several kilometres on the leg from Astara to Ardabil we travelled right along
the Iranian - Azerbaijan boarder with high fences and border posts. We
didn't do too much in Tabriz, just walked around the town taking in the
atmosphere and wandering around their amazing and ancient covered bazaar.
There really aren't that many other tourist sites in town. Our main goal
was to get train tickets to Turkey.
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| Park outside a Mosque in Tabriz |
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| Men playing chess |
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