Last day

Left at 7.45 for the 600km plus drive to Tehran.
About 10 we stopped in Naeim to see the Friday mosque. One of the oldest in Iran. Some of it 8th centuries and bits added on 10 and 14th. There was also a ruined fortress

On the outskirts of Tehran we called to see the mosque and shrine of the first Supreme Leader Khomeyni. There were plenty green feather duster women who police the dress code and tap you with the duster if your Hajib slips. Jo and I had to line up at a desk saying “get your tent here” and we were given a large length of polyester which was difficult to stop slipping. The feather duster woman came and tied it up under our chins. Some young women from Afghanistan wanted selfies when we were looking at the shrine. They had come as refugees. There were many Pakistani men who had travelled to Karbala in Iraq for the Hussain mourning and were calling at all the shrine till they got home.

The blip is Jo and me in our chadors at Khomeyni’s shrine

We had a group dinner at the hotel and said our goodbyes. We get the taxi to the airport in an hour. We spend 2 hours getting to Dubai then 4 hours there, all in the night. Out flight from Dubai home is an early morning one so maybe we won’t get much, if any, sleep.

(I have been contacted by MTV asking for permission to show a video clip I took of a young American woman being chased by an elephant seal on our Antarctica trip. )