5. Tehran and Elborz
The sleeper cabin had place for four people and there was free tea, apple juice, water and different snacks and I shared the cabin with an ayatollah, his wife and a civil engineer who just finished his military service and had to sign papers in Tehran.
after I collected my bicycle I made my way north through the traffic in Tehran and it was actually more relaxed on the urban freeway.
On road 425 I climbed all the way to Dizin skiing area.
On the way up I met the first female cyclist during my holiday in Iran, a woman on her MTB on a day trip towards the mountains.
as you climb higher and higher you leave the valley with all its restaurants and shops, very busy area even at the end of the skiing season.
and half way from the pass to Dizin I had tea with a member of the Iranian ski team who was training nearby.
there is still some snow left at the end of May at about 3250m
Just a few miles downhill from Dizin to Chalous Road and when I saw the amount of traffic here and in the morning in Tehran, I decided to cycle back to Tehran and visit the sights there on foot.
as it can be seen from Tehrans Azadi Tower
Golestan Palace. I met a 70 year old shoemaker there who started to learn the German language recently and we had a nice conversation and went together through his notes and he asked quite difficult questions concerning grammar.
I didn't take more pictures from all the museums I visited during the next 2 days, like National Museum, Carpet Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, the imperial crown jewels etc. In Teheran I stayed at Asia Hotel, a small family run place close to the Iranian parliament.
On my last day I cycled to the airport and left for Munich...