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Day 11 July 21, 2001 Tabriz to Erzerum The guidebook recommended catching the 6am bus for Maku, on the Turkish border, but we decided to have an easier morning so it was 8am by the time we got to the bus station to find a bus leaving in 40 mins for Maku. It was an easy 4 hour climb through fields of sunflowers and heather on rolling hills, like a dry version of Scotland complete with sheep, to Maku which lies at the foot of Mount Ararat.
Travelling today left some time for reflections on Iran. Although it is dry and hot there is still more diversity in land and climate than we had expected. But the real surprise was the cultural situation. Iran has been demonised in the West in a way that possibly no other nation has in recent years except Iraq. Yet, we found the society relatively open. Islam is not "in your face" as much here as in either Pakistan or Turkey. Women are much more evident in business than in Pakistan or Eastern Turkey. If the country were not isolated from most of the world by US sanctions and the elected government were given more of a free hand by the clerics this could be a great country once again. Fareed Zakaria is right. Of all the countries of the middle east this may be the most likely to develop a truly open, democratic society first. Yet the west prefers to deal with corrupt dictatorships and absolute monarchies. Go figure. Turkey From the border we took a taxi to Dogbayazit ("dog biscuit"). The process of bargaining for the taxi was greatly helped when we waked out to the exit of the border post (a long way through ranks of parked trucks) and found that a Dolmush would take us there for a fraction of the cost. In the end we got the taxi for $10 and managed to catch the bus to Erzerum by 2 mins. The road to Erzerum was refreshing after the dryness of Iran, cool weather, rain and water in the streams. The similarity to Scotland only increased. At one point we came through a gorge and the road opened out into an ever widening valley with the sun streaming down everywhere against dark clouds. Then we were brought back to reality as the skylight went flying off the bus. The only clashing note was that the military presence in the East of Turkey is very strong, evidence of on going tensions with Kurds. We arrived in Erzerum in the evening and our first impression was that it was dingy and cold. We had to get our jackets out! Erzerum is at 2000m on a plateau and the weather in winter is punishing, as the Russian army found out when they attacked the city during the first world war. Erzerum had stood as an impregnable fortress since Roman times but fell to the Russians mainly because of Enver Pasha's appalling leadership which led the Turkish troops to desert en masse. The guide books spoke of the citadel "brooding over the city" so it was a bit of a surprise that we couldn't find the castle that evening. We tried, but in the end we had dinner at Burger King and turned in for the night.
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