Iran - Andrew Burke [122]
Beware that Culfa’s paranoid police assume that all foreigners are spies. Jump quickly into a taxi (AZN5, 35 minutes) or minibus (AZN1) to Nakhchivan city, which is contrastingly relaxed and cosmopolitan. From Nakhchivan city there are direct buses to İstanbul (AZN30 plus border bribes, five daily) taking around 30 hours via Iğdır (AZN7).
However the enclave is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by aggressively closed Armenian borders. You’d have to fly to reach Baku (US$100, six daily) or Gəncə (US$50, four weekly) but air tickets often sell out a week ahead.
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East of Jolfa
The Aras River is the Bible’s River Gihon. For millennia its valley formed a major thoroughfare for traders, armies and holy men. Only with the treaties of 1813 and 1828 did Russia and Persia turn it into a border line. Several mud fortifications remain from the 18th-century conflicts that led to its division. But today the tension is east–west, not north–south. Clearly visible on the Aras’ north bank are ruined villages, sad signs of the still unresolved 1989–94 Armenia-Azerbaijan war. What a difference 50m makes. It’s fine to drive along the south (ie Iranian) riverbank as a casual tourist (though taking photos isn’t advised). Yet travelling the parallel north bank’s now-severed train line would be unthinkable folly. That crosses two globally forgotten ‘front lines’: from Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan) to mortal enemy Armenia, on through Karabagh (Armenian-occupied Azeri territory), then back through minefields to Azerbaijan again. There’s not been active fighting for over a decade, but the guard posts, bombed-out trains and barricaded tunnels add a considerable geopolitical frisson to the Aras River Valley’s great natural beauty.
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CROSSING THE ARMENIAN BORDER AT NORDUZ
On the Iran side, the Norduz customs yards occupy an otherwise unpopulated sweep of rural valley. Walking-distance away on the Armenian side is Agarak village. Armenian 14-day tourist visas (US$30) or three-day transit visas (US$20) are available at the border, but the application might take a while – annoying if you’re on one of the through buses (Yerevan–Tehran via Tabriz). Hopefully, they’ll wait for you. Moneychangers on the Iran side buy and sell Armenian dram (US$1 = 307 dram) as well as dollars and rials for around 5% below bank rates. One or two taxis usually wait outside the Iranian border compound asking IR60,000 to Jolfa. From within the compound you’d pay IR20,000 more. On the Armenian side Aries Travel ( 374-1-220138; www.bedandbreakfast.am) coordinates pleasant homestays from 5000 dram in both Agarak and in bigger Meghri, a 15-minute, 2000-dram taxi ride away. From the Hotel Meghri near central Meghr there’s a 9am minibus to Yerevan (7000 dram, nine to 11 hours) and a 7.30am bus to Kapan (1000 dram, two hours).
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Leaving Jolfa, the horizon is a gateau of red-and-white cliffs backed by snow-streaked Armenian peaks. In the middle distance is the cleft rocky beak of Nakhchivan’s abrupt Ilan Dağ (Snake Mountain), through which Noah’s Ark supposedly crashed en route to Ararat. Just beyond attractive Marazakand, the sinuous mud wall of Javer Castle rises on a rocky shoulder. Four kilometres further, the main road bypasses Ahmadabad village: it’s worth a five-minute, 500m detour to admire its cubist array of mud-and-stone homes on a small riverside knoll. Another side road 2.5km further east leads steeply up to the popular, if somewhat overrated, Asiyab Khurabe spring and picnic area. The side trip is justified mainly by the valley views as you drive back down.
Siyah Rud is hardly attractive, but its farmers produce the raw silk for Khanemu’s spinners and Osku’s weavers Click here. Locals are happy to show you the cocoon-extraction process if you’re passing through during May or June. Further east the road passes through canyons with glimpses of spiky