Albània - Grècia - Turquia - Iran (Darkesh - Mashhad)

Motorbike trip from Catalonia to Iran passing through Italy, Albania, Greece, Turkey and Iran.

07-10-2022 - At 5 in the morning I need to poop (probably the effect of the vegetables at dinner) and since there is no toilet I do it in the bag I have for the garbage. After a while I take it, have instant coffee with biscuits for breakfast and get ready to go out.
Today it will be another boring motorway route to Mashhad but half way I detour to go see Radkan Tower, an old tower that served as an astronomical calendar.
Around noon I arrive in Mashhad and go straight to the Valis Homestay, which rents out the entire downstairs for $20 and offers me lunch for $5 more.
We chat with Valis (67 years old) for a long time before lunch, while his wife and sister prepare it, and when we finish, his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter arrive, the son sits down to eat with us.
Around 3 o'clock I go to the Imam Reza Shrine, which must be a couple of kms from where I sleep. Entry is subject to extensive airport-like screening and cameras are prohibited. I walk through the squares outside and around, it is immense, there are large esplanades to accommodate many pilgrims. Apart from the tomb of Imam Reza there is also a mosque, a library, 4 seminaries, a cemetery, the university of Islamic sciences, gardens, etc. It is one of the largest tourist complexes in Iran that is visited by 30 million pilgrims every year, it is a kind of Mecca for the Shiites.
When it starts to get dark many lights are turned on, it's joyful, and many people arrive and through the loudspeakers you can hear the muezzin intoning the chants and prayers.