In the morning I set myself the task of renewing my Iranian visa. The guidebook had said that Esfahan was the best place in Iran to do this. Even so the whole thing took the entire morning. I arrived shortly after 8am at the renewal office. As expected there were a lot of foreign looking characters milling around, I was the only Westerner the rest looked to be Afghans, Turkmen & Pakistani. An English speaking staff member explained the process. I had to go to a particular branch of a bank, pay a sum of money & get a particular receipt; bring this receipt along with forms that needed to be purchased from a different office & a couple of passport photos. Photocopies of visa & passport were also necessary but the staff member did me a favour & did that for me. He also did me the favour of processing my application & letting me queue-jump ahead of the masses of other applicants. I got the 30 day extension that I needed so won't have to do it again.
I telephoned the Turkmenistan Embassy & found out that my transit visa application was successful & that all I needed to do was visit Tehran to fill out some forms & get the stamp in my passport.
In the afternoon I wandered around the bazaar, went to the Friday Mosque & spent more time in Imam Square, where I found a teahouse that had a great roof top view down the square. I had a look in a carpet shop & mused for a while on the possibility of buying something & sending it home but the practicalities of the purchase seemed to much. I didn't have enough time (several visits over several days) to negotiate the price. I couldn't bear the thought of paying too much for one.
That night I caught a night bus to Shiraz & had a terrible sleep.
I cycled 0 km
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