After crossing the border we quickly descended from the Caucasus mountains to the marshy plains east of the Caspian Sea. The landscape was pretty boring:

Every 10 kilometers there was a police checkpoint, and the checks were surprisingly rigorous. At one of them we learned that there were coordinated terrorist attacks against christian and jewish facilities in Derbent and in Makhachkala, two cities we passed in the night before, 22 people were killed and 46 more injured. This could have been the explanation for the strict checks at the border, too.

In Russia hardly anybody is speaking English anymore, a big difference to Georgia and Turkey. The Google translate app (and Internet access) are essential. If someone speaks some English, the conversations can easily become hilarious: at one of the checkpoints I was told that the rigorous checks were not only because of the attacks, “The inhabitants of Dagestan are wild people that have to be policed permanently”.

Before arriving at the next border (Kazakhstan), we crossed the delta of the Volga river and made a break in the (pretty industrial) city of Astrakhan.

Luckily the English speaking checkpoint officer in the morning was not right and we did not reach 45 degrees, but almost:

In Astrakhan János found the love of his life:

and I found a Tiramisu:

A few kilometers further we found the most precise bridge toll price list I have ever seen:

Our Mitsubishi Delica was not listed, but the cashier smartly identified the closest category and put us into the “Mersedes Sprinter, Pegout Boxer, WV Crafter” class.