Travelog for: Kwaadapp

hi, dear mom,
today we had a one-day-trip to NW of Iran.
we passed marand, ipue told me about her german close friend, living there, and later we arrived at jolfa, the border-town! there we went beside the river ARAS, which is the border in!!!!!!!!!!!!! so interesting!!
at the other side of the river is....... and here you may have a look!!!!

our goal was the st. stephanos-monastery, part of the UNESCO-site of world heritage *armenian monastic ensemble in IR*, situated deep hidden in the mountains!! there we had a look around and a nice picknick for lunch!

and the small church just beside the river aras is *kelissa nane maryam* and belongs also to the WHS!!

on our way back home to tabriz we had a look at one of the 999 carvansaries built by the order of the same shah who let built ardabil sheikh safi monastery and all the beauties in esfahan during the period when it was the capital of IR!!!

another day we spent in tabriz - first our sightseing at the blue mosque!!! the main sightseing place in tabriz!! isn't it beautiful?? it's registered at the tentative list of unesco, waiting for to get a world heritage site!!!!?!?!? it was destroyed after a strong earthquake in the 18th century, rebuilt in the seventies of 20th century, only the painting inside tooks about 30 years!!!!

later we went for lunch in an ancient *ice-house*, where ppl in olden times without fridges and freezers kept the meat and other things.. it was an interesting place - and it must be great to have lunch of dinner here during summer!!!!!!!!!!!!

nearby is a traditional bread bakery for the famous SANGAK-bread and we learned how to make it!! and of course we eat it!!! woow, really delicious!! btw all the breads of IR are thought to eat in the same moment when made!!

wow... a day out!!!!!!!
via sarab we went to sarrein, a famous place of hot water springs, where the two ladies accompagnied by ipue entered their hotel! after a break we went to see the sheikh safi monastery with it's great tiles etc..

late in the eve, at our place at dear lili's parents in ardabil we had the b-day-cake of dear lili - jippiiiiiiiieh!!!!!!!! congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

early in the morning we started for our trip to the caspian sea - the world largest inner sea!!! perhaps a quarter of it belongs to iran and astara is the border town!

our taxi brought us to a beautiful plage, where we had a comfortable place to relax and have a great meal! and didn't got tortued by the sun....

the sea was so great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the sea!!!

last day in tabriz...... we went to see the main park, ancient shahgoli.. means not the shah, but in azeri language the *large bassin*!!!
the park is great, even in the morning, and so we asked our catering to have a yummy breakfast here!!!!

and in the evening we continued the travelling of the two ladies up to ZANJAN!!

after spending a night in a zanjan hotel we went by taxi to SOLTANIEH, another world heritage site in north-western IR!! famous as a very large brick dome without columns!! situated in a nice landscape and seen from far away!!

in the afternoon we went back to zanjan, picked up our luggage and took the bus to tehran, arrived during rush hour.. ey goshhhhhh.. what a crowd, what a traffic, what a hot weather.... :-(((((((((((((((

we had our place in gheytarieh in northern tehran, where the *upper class* is living..... oooeeehoeeem......  and in the morning we went by metro to tajrish, where is a small bazar and also a pilgrimage place and last but not least a post-office. where I MUST have a look in the mailbox, hehe... later we had a glance at a *coffee-net*, as the i-net-cafes are called in IR....

german ladies cafe once a week in tehran!! lucky german ladies....

helloooooooooo, dear mom!!
I wish you would be here, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
today we entered another world heritage site in southern tehran - the golestan palace from qajar era.. used for the last time, when the father of the last shah, called reza shah, a strong soldier and selfmade man, got crowned!!! uuuhhh... long time ago................

we went there by metro, getting out found such a crowd again..... but the golestan areal was so beautiful and nice to relax there.. the yard even surrounded by buildings with beautiful tileswork and mirror mosaics and so on....

AAAND we could buy postcards there!!!!!!!

from there we went to an ancient scenic cafe from olden tehran.. cafe naderi, to have lunch and dessert!!

so we relaxed and got power again to climb up (by elevator!!!) the 6th tallest telecommunication tower of the world - burj milad!!!!! the view was impressing!!!!!!!!!!!

dear mom, btw we did a lot of other things in theran, but not everywhere we took pics..

and so in the eveing we brought the two ladies to the airport 40 km outside of tehran. but we got home to the flat of ipue's son1 in  a very beautiful area, where you may forget you are in a city with 14 million inhabitants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hi, mom, we were waiting for ipue's family, as there would be a great event today - at shahid beheshti university the master ceremony of ipue's son2, and we all took part, even son1 was there!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was soooo impressing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(pssssssst!!!!!! I'll aks ipue for a pic of him, so you can imagine!!!!)

and as usual when we are travelling with son2 we turned back to tabriz by train and here you may see the tabriz railway station, built in the seventies!

tztztztzzzzzzz.... guess who I met today???????? and pls zoom the little guy to read a special phrase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tztztzzzzzzz......
he is new at the home of yashila_81 and dear lili_6789!!!!!!?!??! but I like him, coz where he is from, my dear mom is living now!!?!???!

hello, dearest mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a great hug and a million regards from me to youuuuuuuuuuu!!!!
ipuenktchen, my host in tabriz, told me, we are both *special guests*, the cute little KIA-babyboy and me, the cute little green frog!!!!!!!!!
yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so I kiss you, and I miss you, dear mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

today I got the opportunity to met dear little KIA, the son of yashila_81 and lili_6789.. he was sooooooo cute, and lucky him, what a nice room he had, with a great wallpainting with a RAINBOW!!!!!!!!