Iran - Andrew Burke [124]
Sleeping & Eating
Araz Hotel ( 422 2290; dm/tw IR30,000/60,000; ) Kaleybar’s cheapest option has six recently redecorated rooms, mostly stuffed with four or five comfy beds sharing one shower and toilet. To find it take the second alley east of the petrol station, 300m down Mo’allem St from the Kaleybar Grand. It looks like a private house, but hides a long banqueting hall downstairs. Staff seem curiously ill-informed and speak little Azari, let alone English.
Kaleybar Grand Hotel ( 422 2048; fax 422 4666; Shahrdari Sq; s/tw/tr/ste IR50,000/100,000/150,000/300,000) Pleasant enough rooms share decent washing facilities and squat toilets, while the comparatively upmarket suites have bathrooms. There’s a kitchen and communal sitting area with good views. The friendly manager speaks some English. It’s on the top floor of a yellow-brick shopping centre surveying upper Mo’allem St. Use the middle stairway. The right-hand stairs lead up one floor to the unmarked Kabir (Chabizh) Restaurant ( 422 4676; meals IR25,000 to IR40,000; open 12.30pm to 4pm).
Sitting on a lonely hill above Shoza-Abad hamlet, 6km from town, the basic summer-only Babak Hotel is ideally located for climbing the castle and has sweeping views from its café-restaurant.
Getting There & Away
Savaris are fairly frequent to Ahar (IR10,000, 60km, one hour). There are direct buses to Tabriz (IR12,000, three hours) at 8am and 11.30pm. Taxis want IR10,000 to IR30,000 to the castle access paths depending on which route you choose. A taxi to Jolfa along the Aras River will cost around IR350,000.
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AROUND KALEYBAR
A lonely asphalt road winds 63km from Kaleybar to the tiny junction hamlet of Eskanlu, descending through a wonderful variety of landscapes, from bald mountain-passes to semi-desert badlands and green agricultural oases. Some 25km out of Kaleybar it passes the dramatic triple rock-topped ridge where Avarsian Castle once stood. This area is particularly popular with Shahsevan nomad herders who put their tents relatively close to the road in late spring and summer. Nomad women often wear startlingly colourful flowery costumes. See the boxed text for more information.
Swing west at Eskanlu and follow the Aras River (the Azerbaijan border) for 18km to reach Khudaferin. War-gutted since 1994, the wrecked village sits on the Azerbaijan side. Two impressive Safavid bridges here have been ruined much longer. Directly behind is a big, contrastingly new dam. An interesting trip continues to Jolfa (95km; Click here) via Ushtebin (Click here) and Kordasht’s Abu Mirza fortress Click here.
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MESHGIN SHAHR
0452 / pop 57,000
Some 80km northwest of Ardabil, Meshgin Shahr is a busy market town set at the foot of Mt Sabalan’s craggy north face. Climbers generally access the mountain using a 4WD as far as Shavil (Shabil), hiking to a shelter at around 3500m then summitting next day. ALP Tours & Travel Agency can arrange guides. If you just want mountain views, take a taxi 16km to the archaic-looking brick-box foothill village of Mo-il (pronounced ‘meurl’) for around IR50,000 return. Behind Mo-il mosque, where the road ends, very tatty hot spring pools (IR4000) are used as communal village baths. For more salubrious hot springs (IR15,000) backtrack 3km then fork west 4km to Qeynarzheh (Qinarjeh), a relatively modern complex in a lonely steep-cut glen. Bathing sessions alternate every 90 minutes for men (first 8.30am, last 7.30pm) and women (first 10am, last 6pm).
The foremost attraction in Meshgin Shahr itself is the cylindrical brick tomb-tower of Sheikh Heydar Imamzadeh (Jonubi St) tucked behind the police station (bring your passport in case