From Istanbul to Tehran

As described on Man in Seat 61 we took a seabus out of Istanbul to Bursa, or to be precise, to the ferry haven 17 km outside. Our boat left the docks in Kabatas at 08:45 in the morning, I booked on http://www.idobus.com two weeks ahead and it was 8 Lira per person. In Güzelyali we took a local bus to terminus of the Bursaray, the metroline of Bursa, we bought the tickets for both the bus and the train in a booth outside the ferry terminal. We went to a stop called Sirameseler, from there it was a short walk down a pedestrian area, at the next bigger street next to a shopping mall we caught a minibus to the “Terminal”, the central bus station. I’m sure there exists a better option, especially because the minibus dropped us off quite far away on a bigger road, and I saw local buses arriving at the main gate of the bus terminal. Since it took us about 1:20 h from the ferry to the station, we missed the bus/train combo to Istanbul by 10 minutes. The next was leaving 3h later, at 15:30, first a Kamil Koc coach to Eskisehir, then a fast YHT train to Ankara. We could buy both tickets in Bursa, it was about 40 Lira per person.
In Ankara we made a side trip by rental car to Kappadokia, highly recommended. Although next time I’d take a bus to Nevsehir or a train to Kayseri and rent a car from there.
From Ankara it was a very easy and comfortable journey to Tehran and I continued alone. I bought the tickets already the week before in Istanbul Haydarpasa station, the only ticket category was 1st class 4-berth sleeper, it was about € 44. I left Ankara at about 10:25. Most people seemed to have checked in their large luggage, an option I did not find out how to use. I was in a compartment with an Irani and an Arab, it seems the compartments were generally gender segregated, but I think a French couple could get one on their own. The wife of the Irani in my compartment was sleeping in another one though.
The restaurant car was nice and clean, prices for me as an Austrian quite normal, beer was expensive. I spent most of the time drinking tea, looking out the window and chatting with fellow travelers. We were on time in Tatvan, took the ferry and arrived at night in Van. On board the ferry I was the only one who was allowed to shower, I happened to be the first who asked the man behind the bar. He also changed Lira/Euro/Dollar (I don’t know if anything else) to Rial, the rate was not the best, but ok. Last chance for alcohol. In Van we had to wait a bit for the Iranian train, there was a waiting room. As soon as the train arrived and the passengers to Ankara cleared out, the compartments were reassigned by a man behind a counter in the waiting room. You can ask for certain arrangements, but it was a big elbow fight with the locals. If you don’t have any preferences, show laissez-faire and wait, if not and e.g., you want to stay with three of your travel mates, join the fight.
The Iranian dining car had very limited options, but was dirt-cheap. The border controls were eventless, on the Turkish side we had to get out, the Iranians boarded the train. A customs officer looked into my bag, but didn’t check very carefully. In Tabriz we arrived around 6, in the station I enjoyed free wireless. The journey continued the whole day, until we arrived with three hours delay at Tehran International station. You can get to the main terminal if you go about 200 m left, until you see the main street on the right and when on this one go left again, a 5 min walk.

Vienna Westbahnhof – Istanbul

Vienna -Beograd

The Railjet 49 from Innsbruck to Budapest departs at 09:48 at Westbahnhof. It also calls at 10:03 in Meidling, which is, as long as the main station is not finished, usally the faster option to leave Vienna towards Hungary. We arrived punctually at 12:49 in Budapest Keleti, in the Austrian section of the trip we had wireless internet. On the day of the travel I bought a ticket with the Austrian Vorteilscard for 25 €, if you book ahead on www.oebb.at, the fare can go down to 19 € without any special reduction card.

In Budapest we had little time to buy a „Belgrad Spezial“ ticket for 15 €. The international ticket office is in the North (left, when you come from metro or main entrance). Don’t forget to close the door behind you, otherwise the staff reminds you in a not so polite way. Pull a number and check the screens for your turn. The woman who sold us the tickets wasn’t polite either, but she spoke English and was fast filling out the handwritten tickets, what I actually prefered over manners.

The train ride to Serbia was slow, but comfortable, the Serbian dining car had great atmosphere, but the food was some of the worst I ever paid for. The small beer was good and cost 2,20 €, they also accept Forint and Dinar.

Beograd – Plovdiv

In Beograd there was one hour to buy the tickets (20 €) to Sofia and fill up on provisions in the small supermarket in the main hall of the station. The system for booking the sleeper train was already closed, but we walked up to the couchette conductor and there were enough beds left. We paid him 6 € per Bed. The compartements were a bit woren down, the sheets a bit too small, but I slept like a baby. There is no dining car in this train, but you can get drinks in the conductor’s berth. At 5:00 am the border procedures started, the Bulgarians were very thorough. They looked mostly for contraband, but it cost us an hour extra.

We arrived an hour late in Sofia, where an interesting combination of touts/railway employees greeted us. First we were sure they were trying to sell us something overpriced, but in the end they simply showed us the cash machine, the luggage storage and the ticket office. One of them even walked with us a bit to show us the way to the city centre, he wasn’t too happy with the tip of 1 Lev we offered. He asked for 10, we settled on 1 Lev and 1 €. The station had free wireless and a large supermarket.

There are several trains a Day to Plovdiv, a one-way ticket was 9 Lev. After breakfast in the close city center, we took a modern Desiro train at 12:30. As nice and shiny as they are, they are still not the most comfortable trains for longer distances.

Plovdiv – Istanbul

In Plovdiv on time, we spent a night in this beautiful city before we boarded the night train coming from Sofia to Istanbul. It arrived at 21:00, was shunted and we departed with only two cars left at 21:15. The couchette compartement was still in day mode and we put down the beds ourselves. This train has a lot of standing times, in Dimitrovgrad we were coupled with the waggons coming from Bucuresti.

The Bulgarian border control was on board, in Kapikule around 1:00 am we had to leave the train, first to get a Visa behind and left of the at that time unused luggage check point. You could pay there 15 €, or the equivalent in Dollar or Pound, but not in Lira and I don’t think Leva. A British couple had only Lira, but the couchette conductur could exchange their money. Once we got the Visa we headed to the police station on the platform, were we got a stamp. Back on board there was another passport check by Turkish officials.

The train sped up, next stop should have been already Sirkeci in Istanbul. But due to the gigantic Marmaray project, all Trains coming from Europe are ending in Halkalı for now. According to the Man in Seat 61, the Bosfor and Balkan Express will continue to run out of schedule until October 2013.

In Halkalı, there was no bus replacement to be seen, luckily we could follow some locals to the bus stop on the other side of a highway. For the bus to Sirkeci, we needed a Istanbulkart, which most of the tourists did not have, so a local checked us all in and charged us 3 Lira or 1,50 € for it.

The bus is also the replacement for the suburban train, which is not going due to the constructions, so you can imagine it was cram-full.

We spent three nights in Istanbul, now we continue by boat/bus/train to Ankara. More about that later.