Tehran

Our last stop in Iran was Tehran. We decided to try the well known 'couch surfing portal' (which hadn't worked so well for us during our world travel). Surprisingly, both of our requests were granted, which allowed us to stay the 7 days with local people.

Our first host was Hossein, who made an introduction to the capital by showing us the big artificial lake and the three-floor pedestrian bridge. We had great discussions while smoking waterpipe and eating the good Iranian food. We wandered through the Bazaar, visited the Film museum and spent some time at a big shopping mall :)

Our second host was a very nice couple, Ghazal and Ali, who live in an apartment with a beautiful view on the North of Tehran. While staying in the North, we took the opportunity to go skiing on the nearest mountain, Tochal at 3900m above sea level.

The next day we went to the Grand Bazaar to buy a little carpet and some souvenirs.
Together with Ghazal and Ali we cooked tasty meals. We met their friends and spent a nice evening with political discussions and cheese cake. They took really good care of us and made us feel at home.
The final day, they showed us Tehran's big flea market, where we wandered around and bought some more souvenirs.
As both of them are passionate film watchers, we decided to enjoy the last evening with a good movie before heading to the airport in the middle of the night :)

A big thanks to both of our couch surfing hosts (Hossein & Ghazal/Ali). We keep in our hearts the best memories of Iran!!

See you in Luxembourg.

This bar was actually 'mens only' but Hossein managed to get us in.

The gouvernment is still not very happy with USA and Israel. Trump's Muslim Ban for sure didn't help for a better understanding.

Standing on the third floor of the beautiful designed Nature Bridge (or Tabiat Bridge). A 270m long pedestrian bridge that connects the Water and Fire Park (Abo-Atash Park) with Aleghani Natural Park in Tehran.

 

The view from our second couch surfing hosts Ghazal and Ali.

On our way to the ski slope in Tochal.

A little blizzard couldn't stop us from skiing down the mountain.

With the adequate clothes (4 layers per person), we didn't freeze too much.

We were quite lucky to profit one whole day from the mountains, because the following days, they closed the Cableway/Telecabin due to the bad weather conditions.

Normally the city sky is too foggy or too grey because of the smog, but during our stay, the sun was shining most of the time.

Visiting the Golestan Palace.

Our last night in Tehran, watching movies and eating 'croissants' with Nutella, what a life :)