A fast forward about cycling four months across six countries in the Middle East and Caucasus region.⁠
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After I already cycled from my home town Flensburg, Germany all across eastern Europe to Istanbul, Turkey, I continued my way to Oman.⁠ On this leg of my cycling the world journey I faced challenging steep mountain roads in the freezing cold Caucasus region and also had to push myself through some extremely hot and windy deserts of the Middle East. I was lucky to meet Patrick the way. So we teamed up and pedaled together across the Emirates and Oman.⁠
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I came across Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Oman.⁠

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Reyhane joined me in Kashan. Throughout the next weeks we met again in Esfahan and Shiraz. In Kashan we explored the old town which was the first place in Iran how I always imagined the ancient Persia. Many houses look from the outside like its days are numbered. However, as soon as you go inside they show their real beauty. Walls and are decorated with colorful hand crafted tiles, ceilings show plaster designs and the colorful windows turn the inside of the rooms into a rainbow.

My favorite place in Esfahan was definitely the Naqsh-e-Jahan Square and its bazaar. Naqsh-e-Jahan means something like "Image of the World". Considering that it was built between 1598 and 1629 and its nine hectare area, it really must have felt like the world to the locals and traders coming from Orient and Oxidant back in the days. Like in many places it seemed like that I was the only western tourist in town. Many locals but also Asian tourists took it as an opportunity to take photos or a quick selfie with me. At times I felt like a celebrity and thought that I'd become a rich man in no time if I'd charge just one Euro per picture. :D

I pedaled through the desert to Yazd - whose old town reminded me of Tatooine from the Star Wars movies - and then in direction Shiraz. It was almost impossible to stealth camp here since it was mainly flat desert land with some little scrub. If I was lucky then there was a small pile of dirt to pitch my tent behind. If there was nothing to hide behind, I simply pushed my bike as far off the road that I felt like nobody would see me or pay attention to me. It worked out very well. I mean, which car driver pays attention to a tent or a person which is at least 500 meters aside of the road!?

I came through the city Abarkooh in which is the third oldest tree in the world - The Cypress of Abarkooh. And like in Yazd or some other places in the desert there's an ancient ice house. Yes! Ice house! People produced ice in the desert already thousands of years ago. Unbelievable! I find it mind-blowing.

"There's none", he said.
Shit! I really don't want to camp tonight. It's just too cold.
"But you can stay at my house tonight if you want", he said. "You only have to wait until I close."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Or as they say in Farsi: "Merci! Merci! Merci!"
Saeed closed his shop at 11 pm. We loaded my bicycle into a friend's car and a few minutes later we stopped at a restaurant. After having dinner together we stopped stop at Saeed's brother's cafe and another friend's place for tea. Within no time I was included in his circle of friends. Thank you again for your incredible hospitality my friend! That was absolutely amazing! You were a real life safer that day!

So I kept pedaling. At some point I saw a road sign which stated: "Shiraz 60 km" and thought: Screw it! I'll just keep going until I'll arrive in Shiraz and find myself a guest house there.

After 12 hours in the saddle and 186 kilometers I arrived in Shiraz at 11 pm.
Reyhane and her family invited me to spend Christmas and New Year's with them although it means nothing to them since they're Muslims and Iran even uses a different calendar. For instance, the Iranian New Year starts with the spring season. They simply didn't want me to spend these days alone so far away from my family. I took a night bus from Shiraz and spent a few wonderful and relaxing days with them. Thank you guys for this wonderful time! Words really cannot describe how much I appreciate it!

After New Year's I returned to Shiraz and continued my way to Bandar Abbas at the Persian sea side in the south of Iran.

I was about to leave the restaurant in Bandar Abbas and to head to the ferry terminal as another cyclist came inside. We started the standard cyclist talk and it turned out that Patrick was also from Germany and that he was also on his way to the ferry terminal and to Oman. So we teamed up, got our bicycles and luggage checked in and cruised over the Persian Gulf to Sharjah near Dubai. The following weeks we would cycle together through the deserts and mountains of the Emirates and Oman.

Approximate scrible of my route

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"What's the reason for your visit in Iran", was the only question that I was asked by the border officials.
"I want to explore your country on my bicycle", I replied.
"Okay, thank you for visiting our country!" they said and stamped my visa. "Welcome to Iran!"

I cycled in direction Jolfa alongside the Aras River which forms the border between Armenia and Iran. The river flowed to my right hand side. Directly behind it enthroned some massive mountains of the Caucasus. I felt so relieved that I finally left these mountains behind of me in which I suffered so much. On this side of the border it was even a bit warmer again. Just a bit. At least my water supplies didn't freeze anymore.

The next day I arrived in Marand in the province East Azerbaijan. Some locals took me to a hotel. After I arrived, I chatted with an Iranian friend on Instagram. I met Reyhane during my stay in Istanbul and she invited me to stay with her and her family if I'd come to Tehran.
"I'm in Iran now and will be in Tehran in about one week", I texted her.
"Awesome! We're looking forward to have you as a guest", she replied.
"Thank you so much for the invitation. I really appreciate it! Let's talk about where and when to meet in Tehran later. I'm really hungry and need to get some food. I also really need a shower."
"Sounds good", she said.

About one hour later there was no more Wi-Fi signal in my room. After I waited for a bit and also restarted my phone I asked the receptionist if there was something wrong with the router. He didn't realize yet that the internet was off. He checked the router and said that it should be fine. But still no signal. Then he did some phone calls and after a few minutes he said in broken English: "internet is finished."

"Internet is finished? What's that supposed to mean?" I answered. "There's no such thing that the internet finishes." I thought he was joking.
"No more internet everywhere", he said. "Also no mobile data."
I was puzzled but thought that there's nothing that I could do about it as just contact Reyhane the next day again.

"The price got tripled", she said. "If I was you, I'd leave the country again. The situation is bad. I can't even do my work because I'm a web designer."
Now I understood what the receptionist meant with "internet is finished" a few days earlier.

Since my visa was only valid for one months and Iran is a huge country, I decided to take a bus from Tabriz to Tehran to buy myself some time and use it to explore the places that I was excited about to visit. I used my guest houses land line phone to talk to Reyhane and to get directions where to find her house the day before I left Tabriz.

Tehran is a massive city with a lot of traffic. The local authorities raise smog alert on a regular basis. I got a bit lost in the city center as I cycled from the bus terminal to Reyhane's house. Two guys with a box of pizza came out of a corner restaurant as I stood in the rain at a junction and tried to figure out which way to go. Nima asked if I'd need some help. I showed him the address that I was looking for but he and his friend also didn't know where it was.
"Maybe you better call your friend", he said.
"Yeah, you're right", I replied, "but I don't have an Iranian sim card. So I can't call her."
"Just use my phone", he said and handed me his phone.
"Wait where you're right now", said Reyhane. "I'll come and pick you up with the car."

Nima waited with me the whole time until she arrived and even shared his pizza with me. As we waited he told me that he was about move to Germany next week to get master's degree in aerospace engineering. To my surprise he even spoke German. In the following weeks I learned that German is a quite popular language in Iran and many young well educated and talented people are studying it to fulfill their dream to study, work and live in either Germany or Austria. However, it's extremely difficult to get a visa for the Schengen area as an Iranian citizen. The boundaries are high and the process takes long. Nima was lucky and happy that he got the chance to study in Germany. Good luck my friend! Thank you again for your help on this rainy day! And also thank you for the pizza. :)

If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign to equip school classrooms in Darfur, Sudan. Thank you!

And if you enjoy reading it a lot, then I'd appreciate if you'd support me with a virtual cup of coffee on Ko-fi. Cheers! :)

Click here if you want to take a look at my equipment.