Communication Crisis

A good start to the day, up at 8am ready and raring for the dreaded crossing into Iran. Our convoy was just three cars short before we could leave to the border, however after 4 hours of waiting we decided to head to the border anyway only to find that they were waiting for us. This led to a very rushed and stressful crossing with the language barrier being the main culprit.

After hearing rumours of rigorous searches from previous groups we were fully expecting to have the last of our ham ripped from our sandwiches. To our surprise this rigorous search was a mere glance from a bored officer at our nervous convoy. We are now planning on what contraband we can smuggle out!

The carnet was out next hurdle, this 'prestigious' customs document (only needed for Iran) allowed us to bring Betsy into the country. We expected this to be a kind $200 but we were greeted by a old fox going by the name Hossain who forced each team to cough up $600 due to our unpunctual arrival.

We were greeted by our guide leading us off to our first stop, Tabriz!!

Crossing the border

After 1000 miles we crossed through the very efficient Georgian border without even leaving our car.

Give Us A Push enter talks with Iran

After three testing visits to the Iranian consulate suffering varying hangovers we finally have some good news. We are set to collect our 7 day tourist visas for Iran tomorrow at 11am! Our visits mainly consisted of a back and forth with a very helpful Iranian man sat in the infamous booth 4 who finally, after calling around everyone he could, managed to come through for us. Following his good news we had an interesting trip across the road to the Iranian bank to pay, who informed us this process was a cash only ordeal. After being sat for 30 minutes witnessing a curious stream of young men entering the back of the bank, locking the door and then with leaving with their bags now full we suspected we had discovered the reason for the cash only policy.


In between our embassy visits and very important napping schedules we have managed to explore around our area of Istanbul and had a great walk around the Grand Bazaar. Tonight we might indulge in a local bar crawl hosted by our hostel (rude not to, just being polite) and will add more to the list of amazing people we have had the fortune to run into in Istanbul.

GUAP

Call to Prayer

As the sun sets on another day in Istanbul we sip chilled beers on our rooftop hostel overlooking Ayr Sofia as seen in the photo.  Last night we fortunately stumbled upon a large group of fellow ralliers in our area of the city which led to a very late night drinking until just a small group of us was left with the bar owner who ordered in a much needed Turkish pizza delivery around 4am. This unfortunately was the cause of a pretty sluggish start which meant we were unable to get to the Iranian Embassy in time for our visas so we will try again tomorrow. However, despite our sorry looking state and lacking energy we managed to do a bit of exploring of the old town and after some relaxing in the hostel we come to the present time, having a few beers before we head out to some of the bars.

Tomorrow we hope to be able to share good news following our second attempt at getting to the Iranian embassy and maybe even have time for a much needed Turkish bath. GUAP

Bulgarian Beach Bumming

Despite a coolant leak we've moved onto Bulgaria and made camp at Sozopol. Fortunately Ali volunteered to be the designated driver while Charlie and I drink Mojitos and admire the beach! Sbogom