As we were afraid not to have enough time left in Iran, we really doubted about going to Alamut Valley. But we motivated ourselves and took a bus up to Qazvin. It's not really far from Tehran. We convinced our bus to stop close to a road to go to Alamut Valley and he stopped under a bridge. Very usual there!
We walked a bit and this was our first hitchhike test in Iran. Without less than a minute, a nice man stopped and took us for a few kms. We hitchhiked another time and it was a truck this time. We have a nice picture of this moment!
We started to see really beautiful valleys and mountains. We took another one to reach the village of Rajee Dasht but we stopped on the way to eat all together in a quiet place (in Razmian). Having a discussion in Farsi is quite challenging to be honest!
And we hitchhiked a last car until our hotel (Navizar Hotel Alamut) located in the Garmarud village. The owner is adorable and the hotel is nice. So, it's true: Iran is one of the easiest countries for hitchhiking! Most of the time, the first passing car will take you!
Arriving in the Valley
The view of the mountains when you are in the valley are really breathtaking. You can hike a few hours to reach the peak and have a great view from above of the valley. We were quite tired and lazy that we just did a nice walk in the village.
However, our drone flew around and this is how we understood it was an awesome destination! It was just 2 nights there but we really enjoyed it, especially the view of the mountains when we wake up.
(We estimated that the Alamut Castle — the Castle of the Assassins — was not worth it. So, it will be for next time ;-) )
The Garbage Truck and the Generous Lunch
The nice owner of the Navizar Hotel Alamut bid us farewell and we continued to hitchhike on this small road crossing all the valley up to the Caspian Sea. The first hitchhike was a small truck — let's say… dirty. You know when a man accepts to stop to take you, your first feeling is happiness and being grateful. We climbed the back of the truck and discovered that it was a garbage truck. Augustina seated inside and William enjoyed the view (and the smell) in the back… Lucky us, the next car stopped for us and was going directly to the Tonekabon city (Caspian Sea).
This man was incredibly kind and even offered a really good lunch with a view on the city. We ate a really good Salmon fish.
This is how we took a bus to go to the Golestan province! Stay tuned.
July 14–16, 2018