Iran - Andrew Burke [131]
Police headquarters ( 218 3481; room 8, 1st fl, Shohada Sq; 8am-1.30pm Sat-Thu) To extend your visa, apply before 10am. Pay IR100,000 to the specific Bank Melli (cnr 22 Bahman and 17 Shahrivar Sts), return with the receipt and pay a further IR2500 to a uniformed officer. Processing takes about three hours.
Sights
The Shahrdari (Municipality Bldg; Shahrdari Sq) is Rasht’s most identifiable landmark, its colonial style tempered by a token mini-dome topping a distinctive whitewashed tower. It looks great when floodlit at night. Palm trees admire the interplay of fountains in the square opposite. The central horseman statue (Shohada Sq) is Kuchuk Khan, the Jangali leader of ‘Soviet Iran’ Click here. A steady flow of well-wishers visit his mausoleum (Manzariyeh St), sheltered by a contemporary brick gazebo with intricate wooden roof.
Rasht Museum (Taleqani St; admission IR3000; 8am-5.30pm Tue-Sun, 9am-1pm Fri) is small, but well presented in a 1930s house. Its mannequin displays illustrate Gilaki lifestyle, amid a selection of 3000-year-old terracotta riton drinking horns in the shape of bulls, rams and deer. Supping from such vessels supposedly endowed the drinker with the powers and skills of the animal depicted.
Cute little Dana-ye Ali Shrine (middle of Taleqani St) is topped with a faceted pyramid of blue tiling.
Supposedly ‘typical’ thatched-roof Gilani cottages with upper wooden balustrades are shown in many brochures, but are very rare in situ. One-such has been dismantled and moved to a traffic island in Shahid Ansari Blvd (behind a drive-in burger takeaway) and is now used as a tourist information outpost. Many more are being reassembled in the excellent Gilan Rural Heritage Museum ( 323 9490; admission IR3000; 9am-dusk Thu-Fri) 18km south of Rasht (2km off the Qazvin highway). Six full homesteads complete with rice barns are already ‘active’ in 150 hectares of woodland. On open days, local crafts (thatching, mat-making, cloth-weaving) are displayed and there are tight-rope walking mini-shows. Houses display local tools left lying around as though the owners had just nipped out to the pub.
Sleeping
There are many options, but occupancy is high in peak summer season (May to September) when overwhelming humidity makes air-con virtually essential.
BUDGET
Sedaghat Guesthouse ( 223 6088; Shari’ati St, upstairs; s/tw/tr IR47,000/62,500/75,000) Rooms are better than the grimy entrance stairs suggest. Singles are claustrophobically small, but worn twins are passable.
Hotel Fars ( 222 5257; Sa’di Lane; tw/tr/q IR70,000/80,000/90,000) Set back from the main road, the basic Fars is quieter and marginally cleaner than the average mehmanpazir, but charges double if you check in before 2pm.
Caravan Hotel ( 222 2612; Shahid Mehrban Lane; s/d/tr IR80,000/90,000/100,000) and Hotel Bahar ( /fax 222 1350; Imam Khomeini Blvd; tw/tr IR75,000/90,000) both occupy once-attractive but now slightly ragged buildings with high ceilings. Readers report spotting wildlife in the shared bathrooms.
Mehmanpazir Kenareh ( 222 2412; Ferdosi Alley off Shari’ati St; s/tw/tr IR70,000/100,000/120,000) By far the most appealing of the central cheapies, this relatively new place has sparkling white-tiled floors, reliably changed sheets and its off-road location means it’s reasonably quiet. No English sign.
MIDRANGE & TOP END
Hotel Keyvan ( 222 2979; Imam Khomeini Blvd; tw with breakfast IR180,000; ) Choose your room carefully. Some are good value: well air-conditioned and recently redecorated, albeit with a few rough edges. Others (same price!) are very ragged fan-only boxes, albeit with toilet and hot shower.
Hotel Ordibesht ( 222 9210; fax 222 2221; tw US$30; ) Delightful staff and loveably dated décor behind concrete Corinthian columns make up for a slight mustiness in some of the rooms. Set well back off Shahrdari Sq, it manages to be splendidly central yet very quiet.
Hotel Pamchal ( 660 3031; 15 Khordat St; d/ste IR540,000/700,000;) Attractively rebuilt rooms with designer armchairs and pot plants. The orange globe-lamps