Monthly Archives: October 2019

April, Nov 2019 – TURKEY – General, Stray Cats & Dogs, Turkish Thrace, Istanbul, Marmara, Ege, Central & West Anatolia, Black Sea West. Black Sea Central & East, East Anatolia, Southeast Anatolia, Mediterranean East, Mediterranean West  Oct 2019 – IRAN – General, Iran Visa, World Heritage … Continue reading →

Turkmenistan – North – Daşoguz, Lebap (Turkmenabat) October 28-30, 2019 After seeing the last sights in Ashgabat (Nisa, Carpet Museum, Turkmenbashi Ruhy Mosque), we had lunch in the big shopping center and started the drive to the Darvaza gas fire … Continue reading →

TIPS & OBSERVATIONS 1. Currency. Denominated Turkmen Manat (DTM). 1€ = 4.1 DTM This is a black market money country – the official rate is 1$US = 3.5 DTM. The black market rate is $1 = 18 DTM. As a … Continue reading →

Turkmenistan – West – Balkan (Balkanabat, Turkmenbashi) October 27, 2019 When I arranged my tour with Murad, I sent the Nomad Mania lists of the three regions of Turkmenistan saying that I would like to visit every region and see … Continue reading →

TURKMENISTAN FINDS a NOVEL SOLUTION TO MASS EMIGRATION It is simply stopping people from leaving Jul 5th 2018 ATLANTIC  Citizens of Turkmenistan are definitely allowed to leave the country, its immigration service insisted in a statement in mid-April. The declaration … Continue reading →

WARNING: Terrorists in the area have used car bombs in the past (especially during and before the Georgian-Russian conflict in 2008) to target military and security facilities. However, the situation in the recent years has been quite stable. If you are … Continue reading →

Iran – Esfahan, Chaharmahal/Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh/Boyer-Ahmad   October 19-21, 2019 Day 8: Drive to Isfahan, visit Meybod, Nain & Varzaneh on the way The road between Yazd/Mabod passes through some bleak desert – a flat plain between rugged mountains on either … Continue reading →

Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced religions. It is a heterodox yet orthopraxic faith centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheism/monism, and polytheism. Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian-speaking spiritual leader Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), it exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura … Continue reading →

Iran – Yazd October 16-18, 2019 We left Shiraz in the early morning and saw Pasargadae, the location of the tomb of Cyrus the Great in the morning and continued to Ararkouh where we stayed the night. ABARKUH (pop 27,500 2016) Abarkuh … Continue reading →

WORLD HERITAGE SITES WHS I have made a separate listing for the ones with diverse locations. The Persian Qanat The Persian Garden TENTATIVE WORLD HERITAGE SITES  Caravanserai of Iran The Persian House in the Central Plateau of Iran Industrial Heritage … Continue reading →