When I left London I wrote in my book "last day to cross to Iran 25 November"
And here I am.
I applied thru iranianvisa.com
The partner of the owner is a relative of the Iran Ambassador in Istanbul. If you go to the Embassy you are given a slip of paper and told apply to this website, on-line. Of course no one tells you that iranianvisa let you fill in the form, advise you to pay the urgency fee if you are leaving Istanbul, and then DO NOTHING !
So inevitably we all pay the 55Euro and end up stuck in Erzurum. And for most of us the only time we hear from iranianvisa is when we are told "application declined". Then its a battle. Some return to Istanbul and ship, some reapply (after two weeks I am told), I am pleading with the Consul. He wants Hotel bookings which of course is a joke outside Iran. They don't answer phones emails, websites faxes.......nothing ! So its going to be tough.
Met some fellow travellers last night Chris and Kadri. He is a Scot and she an Estonian. What a neat couple. They are on a DL650 as I recall heading to Oz. It was good to spend some time with some real people. They are "waiting" on iranianvisa as well.
I hope my expedition does not stall here, that would be a disaster. If anyone knows someone in Iran that would invite me to visit that would be a great help.
What is totally confusing is that most do eventually get a visa, after spending $US2000 and two weeks longer in Turkey than wanted, time and money Iran should have had !
Turkey must love iranianvisa. They make more money for Turkey than they do for Iran and they live in Tehran.
Life is odd.
So its back to the Consul toady and hope !
I need a picture so will go dredging. The single spire is included for its tile work 700 years old. The city for its "town planning". So much of the housing expansion in Turkey is like this. They build towers in the sand around the cities. The colours are I guess a bit like painting the fronts of bee hives. How else do you find your way home ?
nzl04
