Imam Reza's Shrine at night
Mashhad, the holiest city in Iran and the place where millions of people come every year in pilgrimage, was our last destination in Iran before heading North to Turkmenistan. A visit to the shrine and picking up our Turkmen visa was all we did in this 100% religious city.
The 13-hour overnight bus ride from Kerman to Mashhad was quite pleasant. Again a VIP bus with soft and big seats, room for legs... the only disturbance was that, as we were driving all the time along the border with Afghanistan, only a few kilometers from there, there were a lot of police checkpoints. In one of them, I was woken up around 6 or 7 in the morning by a policeman who got on the bus: "Tourist? Telephone, telephone, go, go!!" Those were the only words that idiot knew in English. I was half asleep and gave him my telephone and got off the bus with him.
We were already in the north of Iran and I could feel it when outside it was freezing cold. After the warm temperature in Bam of around plus 16 degrees, now it was like minus 2, quite a big shock. The policeman took me to a small tent by the road and started checking the pictures I had in my phone. When he finished he gave me back the phone and I could go back to the bus. Then I was told that he was trying to find out if I was a spy, as some time ago they caught an American guy pretending he was a tourist but in fact he was a spy of the American government. Good I didn't have any pictures of political stuff in my phone. But still, that idiot couldn't think that if I'm a spy, the pictures would probably already have been deleted from my phone? Or that maybe I have pictures in my camera or laptop, not only in the phone?
Mashhad Holy Shrine
Anyway, after the spy thing, we got to Mashhad in a couple of more hours. It was around 11 in the morning and cold. First thing we did was going straight to the Turkmenistan consulate by bus and with the backpack. With not much waiting, we gave the guy there another application form, another picture and.... he needed another copy of the Uzbek visa, so go find a shop to make a copy of it and come back. After the payment of the visa fee, he told us to come back at 3 in the afternoon to pick the visa up. We had already some 2 hours so we decided to go and look for our hostel, close to the holy shrine.
After discussing the price with several taxi drivers and provoking a small car crash, we jumped in a car whose driver, as most of the time in Iran, had no clue where the hostel was. He drove us for around one hour and finally, being unable to find the hostel, took us to another hotel. This one was, of corse, expensive and running out of time, we told him to take us back to the initial position. Result: 2 hours wasted driving around Mashhad and still no place to stay overnight. We thanked him for the sightseeing tour and without even trying to pay him, rushed to the Turkmen consulate. The visa was stamped in the passport, so we were fully ready to go to Turkmenistan in 3 days!
Next objective was to find a place to sleep, which we did by searching on the Lonely Planet and going to a hotel close by the consulate but some 30 minutes walk from the shrine. It was called Pars Hotel, and it was actually cheap, good and with a really helpful owner. Also religious, the hotel was very religious, not strange being in Mashhad.
After discussing the price with several taxi drivers and provoking a small car crash, we jumped in a car whose driver, as most of the time in Iran, had no clue where the hostel was. He drove us for around one hour and finally, being unable to find the hostel, took us to another hotel. This one was, of corse, expensive and running out of time, we told him to take us back to the initial position. Result: 2 hours wasted driving around Mashhad and still no place to stay overnight. We thanked him for the sightseeing tour and without even trying to pay him, rushed to the Turkmen consulate. The visa was stamped in the passport, so we were fully ready to go to Turkmenistan in 3 days!
Next objective was to find a place to sleep, which we did by searching on the Lonely Planet and going to a hotel close by the consulate but some 30 minutes walk from the shrine. It was called Pars Hotel, and it was actually cheap, good and with a really helpful owner. Also religious, the hotel was very religious, not strange being in Mashhad.
A picture in the hotel hall. Great, eh?
It was quite late, so we just went to have some food and to sleep. Next day was going to be devoted to visit the holy shrine and the surroundings, so we woke up and headed towards the place. On the way there, we went through the bazar, buying some bread from Mashhad (like a one meter long bread but tasteless) and realizing Mashhad was like Qom but in a higher level. That is, you find plenty of religious stuff to buy in the bazar and when you get to the shrine it is really massive, like a city within a city.
There are plenty of different entrances and, as usual in all those holy complexes, you cannot enter with any bag or camera and you are checked by security guards at the gates. Luckily and strangely this time we were not approached by any Foreign Pilgrims Office guys, so we were totally free to wander around and even enter inside the holy Shrine with nobody caring about us.
There are plenty of different entrances and, as usual in all those holy complexes, you cannot enter with any bag or camera and you are checked by security guards at the gates. Luckily and strangely this time we were not approached by any Foreign Pilgrims Office guys, so we were totally free to wander around and even enter inside the holy Shrine with nobody caring about us.
Mashhad bread
Inside the complex there are plenty of squares, courtyards, halls full of people praying and studying, mosques, buildings, minarets... again like Disneyland. And they are even making it bigger! You see minarets and buildings under construction everywhere. These people are crazy. Why you spend so much money in a thing like this???? But ok, for them religion is more important than, literally, anything else, so if they are happy with that, enjoy.
Anyway, the objective was entering the shrine and seeing the tomb of this Imam Reza, so there we went. To get there you go through a corridor with the walls full of small mirrors, with huge glass lamps hanging from the ceiling, plenty of people praying everywhere... and the place is so big there are even escalators inside! Crazy.
Anyway, the objective was entering the shrine and seeing the tomb of this Imam Reza, so there we went. To get there you go through a corridor with the walls full of small mirrors, with huge glass lamps hanging from the ceiling, plenty of people praying everywhere... and the place is so big there are even escalators inside! Crazy.
The corridor leading to the shrine
But the craziest of all is when you finally reach the tomb. It is a really huge black box surrounded by hundreds of people (separated men and women, these ones more passionate than men) shouting, crying and throwing money inside it, and if they cannot reach it, they just throw the money into the air. If you get to have a glimpse inside the tomb, the only thing you actually see is bank notes and more bank notes. The tomb is totally covered by money! Normal they can keep building and building there! What a waste of money! But these Imams are wise, control people by religion and make them waste their money there, great.
After that surreal view we just wandered around the site a bit more, waited to be dark to see it lit and back to the hotel. Next morning we were heading to the border!
After that surreal view we just wandered around the site a bit more, waited to be dark to see it lit and back to the hotel. Next morning we were heading to the border!
Imam Reza's Holy Shrine
We woke up early, got a taxi to the place where taxis are heading to Bajgiran (the boder with Turkmenistan) and from there another taxi. It took us 3 hours to reach the small village to find out two not really nice surprises: first, opposite to what the Lonely Planet and the Internet forums said, there was not any place to sleep there. Second, there was a misunderstanding with the taxi driver and he expected us to pay ten times more than what we agreed. This is quite common in Iran, as they have a really strange currency. The official one is the rial, but normally they are giving you the price in tomans, which is ten times less. Really confusing everything, so you always have to doublecheck the price. And even if it was our last day in the country, we were still having problems with that. Anyway, we pretended not to have any more money and we gave him 20€, far much more than what we expected, but ok, problem solved. The second problem was a bit more difficult to solve.
With the help of the taxi driver and asking around the tiny village, we finally met a woman who had the keys of the only hotel in town, which had been closed for at least one year. Totally run-down, overpriced and with no electricity or heating. Not an option as it was cold and we would have frozen to death there. Then, again asking around, the guards at the border offered us to pitch the tent somewhere there. Again not an option as it was cold. Our visa to Turkmenistan was valid from the following day, so we couldn't enter the country and we couln't stay at Bajgiran. What now?
With the help of the taxi driver and asking around the tiny village, we finally met a woman who had the keys of the only hotel in town, which had been closed for at least one year. Totally run-down, overpriced and with no electricity or heating. Not an option as it was cold and we would have frozen to death there. Then, again asking around, the guards at the border offered us to pitch the tent somewhere there. Again not an option as it was cold. Our visa to Turkmenistan was valid from the following day, so we couldn't enter the country and we couln't stay at Bajgiran. What now?
Mashhad Holy Shrine Complex
Luckily there was a town called Quchan an hour away from there, and the taxi driver drove us there. We didn't pay him more and he took us to a cheap hotel in that town, so problem solved, but if we had known that, we would have stayed in Mashhad one more night.
Anyway, we said goodbye to the driver, went for some food (hopefully that was the end of the kebab, pizza, hamburger diet) and to sleep after the annoying day.
Next morning, a taxi back to Bajgiran which dropped us right in the border post. We were finally able to leave Iran after one month in the country and enter Turkmenistan!
It was a feeling of excitement as we were entering a new country but also a bit of sadness, as we really loved Iran. It has everything a traveller can ask for: it's cheap, quite easy to get around, you have great places to see, different landscapes... and the people, the people are really the best thing in Iran. Even if it is not the best country I have ever been to it is definitely one of the best ones and to that, people help a lot. Of course, it has its negative points, such as the monotonous food, the ban over alcohol (although, believe it or not, we were able to drink some home-made kind of grappa in Iran! we will not say where, to preserve the people they offered it to us, though), the crazy traffic and the religion. Actually religion is connected to most of the negative things of Iran, but to be honest, without Islam no beautiful mosques, no shrines, so we cannot complain. The only thing is that these people should do something about their government. With all the people we have had contact to, they all agreed in one thing: their government are terrorists, they are destroying the image of Iran and they hate them. So I really hope they will soon fight these terrorists and have a free country, they really deserve it!
Now you can check the Mashhad travel guide for more information on the city and also all the pictures of the Iranian trip organized city by city!
Anyway, we said goodbye to the driver, went for some food (hopefully that was the end of the kebab, pizza, hamburger diet) and to sleep after the annoying day.
Next morning, a taxi back to Bajgiran which dropped us right in the border post. We were finally able to leave Iran after one month in the country and enter Turkmenistan!
It was a feeling of excitement as we were entering a new country but also a bit of sadness, as we really loved Iran. It has everything a traveller can ask for: it's cheap, quite easy to get around, you have great places to see, different landscapes... and the people, the people are really the best thing in Iran. Even if it is not the best country I have ever been to it is definitely one of the best ones and to that, people help a lot. Of course, it has its negative points, such as the monotonous food, the ban over alcohol (although, believe it or not, we were able to drink some home-made kind of grappa in Iran! we will not say where, to preserve the people they offered it to us, though), the crazy traffic and the religion. Actually religion is connected to most of the negative things of Iran, but to be honest, without Islam no beautiful mosques, no shrines, so we cannot complain. The only thing is that these people should do something about their government. With all the people we have had contact to, they all agreed in one thing: their government are terrorists, they are destroying the image of Iran and they hate them. So I really hope they will soon fight these terrorists and have a free country, they really deserve it!
Now you can check the Mashhad travel guide for more information on the city and also all the pictures of the Iranian trip organized city by city!
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