Ismaili fort of Qaleh Rudkhan

We had a drive through arid plains, then we went through the mountains via tunnels, passing through a valley of wind turbines. There was also a dam for hydro power. Then we entered the area near the Caspian Sea which gets lots rain. We passed rice fields and tea plantations. The area was hilly and wooded. After 4 hours we got to the drop off point for the climb the 2000 steps up to Qaleh Rudkhan, an Islamili Fort with 65 towers and 1500 metres of outer wall that was first built 1800 years ago.

We were surprised that there was a huge car park almost full. We had to work our way through lots of stalls selling local costumes, food, honey, cakes and toys among other stuff, not to mention crowds of families and young people. It was quite humid and what with the effort of getting myself hauled up all the steep steps my headscarf was soon soaked in sweat. I let it slip more than a bit. We got lots of encouragement from locals, many of whom wanted selfies and a chat.

Eventually, after an hour, we got there. It was much more impressed than yesterday’s fort. Coming down was quite treacherous as the sloping steps were very slippy. My phone says 14000 steps and only 22 floors which doesn’t seem much as it was quite an arduous climb.

At the bottom we stopped for a late lunch. Mr C had the ubiquitous kebab and I had to make do with chips.

A man at one of the stalls kept saying photo photo to me - he had some local costumes and wanted me to pay to dress up. I indicate I’d take his photo so he played along and I took a nice one.

We stopped in Fuman to buy some kaluche, a kind of biscuit stuffed with walnut paste, then headed to our out-of-town hotel in the darkness. I think it’s set in a tea plantation.