Day 40 from Nepal – Qazvin - Iran-Turkey Border - Ararat!
We left Qazvin early in the morning again. The sun had already risen, but there was nobody in traffic in the city. During the trip it has been surprising to notice how different rhythms different countries and cities have. Qazvin was clearly not an early bird city so far.
We stopped for a break by the roadside after a couple of hours to switch drivers and noticed a small brick shack by the road. We walked in confidently and gestured to ask if there was any food available. For just under three euros total, we each ate an omelette with spices, almost a square meter of flatbread, orange soda and onion for breakfast. The meal was the closest to local food we found in Iran. It's strange how burgers and pizzas are so popular that you can barely find anything else!
The scenery flew by on the three-lane highway. Only toll booths slowed us down (besides the hills). Most of the toll collectors just smiled when they saw us and told us to continue without paying. A gesture of hospitality, I suppose.
Gradually, an enormous snow-capped mountain began to rise in the landscape: Ararat. The volcano, known since the days of Noah, lay in silent solitude as the highest point on the horizon. For us, Ararat was a major milestone, as it was on the Turkish side!
The Border
Soon we were at the Iran-Turkey border crossing. We assumed this would be one of the most complicated borders of the entire trip, but we were pleasantly surprised again. On the Iranian side, we were quickly helped to skip the queue, even though we didn't ask for it. Even our 40 liters of diesel was allowed to leave the country, while everyone else's fuel canisters were confiscated. We were already first in line to drive into Turkey when we realized we didn't have exit stamps.
For a moment we considered just driving into Turkey and forgetting about the exit stamps. However, there was a possibility that my and Misa's passport extensions would cause trouble and fines. We decided to walk back and get our passports stamped.
We walked to the booth of a stern-looking female customs officer from the Turkish side. She looked at our passports for a moment and then started stamping us out. I quickly asked if I could still go to the café to spend my 400,000 rials that had remained at the bottom of my pocket (about 10 euros). I bought 12 small bottles of soda, 12 cans of juice, 6 packs of gum, 6 chocolate bars and 6 packs of mints and still had three euros left unspent.
On the Turkish side, we had to buy insurance for the car, which cost 25 euros, but otherwise everything went great. The customs officer did spend a moment looking for a visa in our passports, until he checked on the computer that Finns don't need a visa for Turkey.
Ararat
The whole time at customs and border crossings we kept looking at Ararat. There it gleamed in its solitude in the beautiful afternoon sun. Soon we would reach its base.
As we drove along the road leading from the border past Ararat, we saw two rainbows on our left side. They were small and delicate, so small that the camera could barely capture them. But that didn't change the fact that we were in the same place where Noah had once been, and we saw the same phenomenon now, even though there was no rain anywhere. Needless to say, we continued our journey in very good spirits towards Turkish adventures!