Travel note in Persia 16 Let's go to Ardebil

Travel note in Persia 16, Let's go to Ardebil

In the middle of August we left Tehran for the first time.

We went to travel to Ardebil of Azerbaidjan province where Parents were born. We will visit the uncle. He is Father's brother and live in Ardebil with his family.

We went with all family, Parents, Brother, the eldest brother's family, Sister's family. There were 20 people traveled with us. Three cars were full of us.

If we pass the town in Japan, we can find a lot of houses in the country side. Many people live in Japan.

But when we passed Tehran city, we found only a wilderness and no one was there. I could see the mountain far in the distance.

Those mountains were different from the ones which a Japanese imagined. They were mountains where the wilderness swelled from the ground as they had few trees.

It was the world of ocher color including the mountains to see in the distance. It was not a desert, but it was like the plain where it became rough.

The middle east has many deserts. Tehran is in the northern part of Iran and has no desert. The climate is almost the same as Japan.

Iran faces the north border with the Azerbaidjan republic of the ex-Soviet Union. There were many areas which are colder than Japan.

Ardebil is one of the coldest areas in Iran.

Out of Tehran

Each town is isolated in Iran. We hardly found a house between the towns. Tehran is a megalopolis beyond the population of 10,000,000 people.

If you compare with Tehran, the scale of other towns is very small. The atmosphere does not change at least in the surroundings of Tehran.

As for going from Tehran to Ardebil, we need one day by car. We drived freely with taking a rest once in one or two hours because it was long distance.

When we passed through the next town of Tehran, we took a rest. We stopped the cars in the shade of green trees at the side of the road.

We laid the mat on the grass, and had a tea which Mother and Sister packed into the pot at home. There were no house and no shop in the surroundings.

I found a party of a family trip like us a little far from us. Mother went to chat with the party's women and she did not come back for a long time.

Though Iranians never trust strangers soon, they often talk to the person who sat on the neighbor in the restaurant or the outside.

We finished the first rest, and went more to the north. Though the air of Tehran dries, damp increases in facing the Caspean sea in the north.

We found wheat fields near Tehran, but they changed to rice fields near the Caspean sea. The scene of ocher color dyes green gradually.

Because it rains and there is much damp. When the climate looks like Japan, the houses and the scenes also look like Japan.

I felt the illusion that it is in the country of Japan. It was falling the rain which was never seen in Tehran of summer.

Chaikhane

When we looked for the place to have lunch, we found a cabin beside the road. It seemed to be a small restaurant or Chaikhane (tea room) because there were some tables and seats in front of the entrance.

When Brother went in, it was Chaikhane.

Mother and Sister brought the meal from the house. Because we can not have meals in the country which has very few restaurants and we do not know where it is.

My husband and Sister's husband negotiated with Chaikhane owner, and he borrowed us to eat lunch there.

No guests were there. They had no sign to get custmers. I was afraid the shop can go well or not. We begun the lunch in the whole Chaikhane.

The menu was Ghorme-sabzi (Herb and meat stew), Yogurt, Istanbli (Tomato piraf). They packed in the morning, the meals were still warm.

Children began to play and ran after the hens that were pastured in the neighbor when they finish eating lunch. The hens were fine and fast runing because they were kept in the outside.

Here was Chaikhane and we had Chai at last.