Hormoz is one of the smallest Islands possible and with a bike you can easily circle around in less than five hours. But this small Island is packed with so many beautiful sights and has such a nice relaxed atmosphere, you can easily spend three days there.
We started (hitch) hiking around the island and stopped at a beautiful beach where the locals formed a carpet out of the famous, colourful soil of the Island. Most of the soil they use are from the centre of the island, where you can find the rainbow valley. The soil of Hormoz features out of 70 to 80 different colours and shades of colour, all packed in the hills of this little island. Wandering between them is just magical.
The valley of the statues is a part of the cliffs around Hormoz. Give vent to your fantasy and find dragons, crocodiles, gorillas, and monsters all along the coastline.
On our way to find a good spot for the tent we also passed by the snowy mountain (some of the mountains are covered with salt crystals and are completely white) and the red beach, where you are not only surrounded by red sand and mountains, but also red water.
The next day, we went with the ferry to Qeshm. It’s one of the biggest islands of the Persian Gulf around Iran and we were lucky enough to get an apartment for free. It was the day of Nowruz and even though my travel mate didn’t seem to care that much in the beginning, the closer it was to Nowruz, the more excited he got. For the Iranian new year, you need seven things starting with “S” on the table (haft-sin). He was pragmatic and said “ok, we already have Stella and Siavash, we just need five more”. I think it was the closest to German efficiency I experienced in Iran. At the end, we had our coin, garlic, grass, vegetables, etc. arranged and the new year was about to start.
One minute before seven pm (which is the mark of the new year) the clock started to count down in the TV and people all over Iran had a minute of silence to go through their wishes and expectations for the new year. At seven pm the firework started and my travel mate was on the phone for the next hour to wish all of his close friends and relatives a happy new year. I was happy to spend it with an Iranian.
In Qeshm, we hitchhiked all the way around the Island and I remembered how much I loved it. We met an Iranian family who was in Qeshm for the new year holidays with their two little daughters who were happy to practice their English and take selfies with me and three old men in traditional Arab clothes who could be anything between 60 and 90 years old. Their skin was darkened by the sun and lined by their favourite tobacco (the one down at my feet, below my dirty hiking boots). I felt bad and tried to touch it as little as possible.
Around Qeshm is a beautiful Mangrove forest and we took a boat ride to explore it a bit more. We met another Iranian couple who was also on the island for Nowruz and joined them afterwards on a tour through the Island. At the end, we decided to camp on Hengam Island and took one of the last boats there to pitch our tent along the coastline.
Hengam is famous for dolphins around the Island, but has not much more to offer and I think the dolphins took some holidays from the millions of small motorboats circling around to search for them. We went back to the main Island quite early and ended up spending the night in the apartment and wandering around the bazaar of the city.
