We continue east along a very boring straight road towards Ghazvin. Stay overnight in a nice guest-house Abrisham with kind and helpful staff, walk through city bustling streets and visit bazaar... it’s kind of strange feeling walking around, everybody stare at us like we are from another planet. We don’t feel very relaxed. Beside they cheat us in one of street kebab restaurant, where we pay 10 USD for, i’d say, nothing.

Next day we gather information about the Alamut valley in the hills north of Ghazvin and in the late morning we’re already on the way. Soon we leave the plain behind and rise along winding road up the hill; on the other side a magnificent view opens in front of us... the landscape is like being drawn, it flashes with interchanging colours of yellow reaped fields, colourful rocks and green oases in the valleys and villages. We descent, ride through a village and start ascending again; find a nice spot for camping before we get too high, with a marvellous view on the endless landscape of smooth hills and valleys. We wake up in the most beautiful day, the morning sun is making magical iridescence of shadows and light.

Few more kms and we reach Ghazor Khan, a village which lies below mighty Alamut castle and find hotel Koosaran, where most of travellers stop for a day or two. It’s something between a hostel and mountain cottage, in fact there is only one big room with 3 beds and a big table in extension of the house of a kind and hospitable family.
Steep stairs lead us to the Alamut castle, a fort with imposing position on the top of cliffy rock wall. There is quite a lot of visitors, it’s Friday, which is free day in Iran, and Iranians like to go to nature, having picnics or visit archaeological sites. As foreigners we step out and everybody is eagerly saying hello and trying to speak to us. A man approaches us, speaking quite well English and we talk for some minutes. Then his friend mr. Ali comes, listening for a while and suddenly he interfere in the talk and invite us to his home in Ghazvin. We say: maybe tomorrow, but we don’t take him too seriously.

Next morning we start early and go hiking in the valley behind the castle. There are no signs for the way, but we find many descriptions of trails from travellers in the guest-book of our hotel. Luckily landscape is mostly treeless and passable, so there is no bigger problem with orientation. It’s quite a long hike altogether, but it’s worth every effort to visit this quiet and intact nature.

In the evening the storm surprises us, not much rain but strong wind is blowing. The whole village stays without electricity and we spend the rest of the evening at oil lamp. The morning is still cloudy and it doesn’t look it’s going to clear. We pack and ride back to Ghazvin, avoiding the rain which is all the time chasing us. Well, we have luck and stay dry. Because the weather is so unstable we decide to call mr. Ali and see if his invitation was sincere. He remembers us immediately and we meet at the margin of the city; in fact his son comes to pick us up and takes us home where Ali’s wife Mahdi awaits us. They are educated and westerner-style family and there is no traditional clothing at home and no distinguishing between men and women. Mahdi prepares really delicious lunch of tasty Iranian dishes and after lunch Ali takes us on Ghazvin sightseeing. He is a unique guide with enormous knowledge of history and art. An interesting experience, this time Ghazvin seems like completely different city from the one we stayed few days ago.