Iran - Andrew Burke [135]
Lahijan & Around
0141 / pop 61,000
Famed for its tea, Lahijan is one of Gilan’s oldest towns with some tree-lined charm to its main streets.
Several minor sights are ranged around central Vahdat Sq. These include the Jameh Mosque (pierced by a blue-tipped brick minaret) and a charmingly run-down old men-only domed bathhouse (shower/massage IR5000/15,000; 6am-7pm) that will eventually host a traditional teahouse. Across the square is the tile-roofed Chahar Padeshah Mosque. Some of its famed carved wooden doors have been removed to Tehran’s National Museum of Iran, but there are attractive pseudo-medieval-styled murals on the front wall.
Alleyways around Vahdat Sq hide a few old buildings with mossy, tiled roofs, notably the intriguing Akbariyeh Mosque (4th West Kashef Alley).
A kilometre further east, the austere, grey Mausoleum of Kashef-ol-Saltaneh ( 224 1003; East Kashef St; admission IR4000; 8am-6pm Tue-Sun) entombs the man who is credited with introducing tea cultivation to Iran (see boxed text, below). It houses an underwhelming museum of tea paraphernalia.
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ROOTS OF THAT CUPPA
Gilan province produces 90% of Iran’s tea. The deep green, manicured tea-bushes are now so emblematic that it’s hard to believe they were introduced only a century ago. In fact, tea didn’t reach Persia at all until the 17th century, when it became an expensive luxury. Qajar-period attempts to grow the stuff were unsuccessful until Kashef-ol-Saltaneh, an Iranian consul in India, managed to learn the secret art. Around 1900 he slipped home to Lahijan with some 4000 tea plants and the rest is history.
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The easternmost 800m of Kashef St climbs Sheitan Kuh (Satan’s Mountain), a tree-covered ridge fringed with tea gardens. It’s crowded on Friday with local tourists enjoying fine views down over Lahijan’s rectangular lake. A new cable-car (10 min ride return IR30,000; 9am-dusk) whisks sightseers across to another neighbouring hilltop that’s only slightly higher.
The blue, pyramidal roof of the distinctive wooden Sheikh Zahed Mausoleum (Boq’eh Sheikh Zahed; admission by donation) is Lahijan’s architectural icon. The holy man buried here supposedly lived to the ripe old age of 116 (1218–1334). That’s longer than the present mausoleum, which was rebuilt after a devastating 1913 fire. It’s in a quiet, rural setting 2.3km east of the artificial lakeside cascade at the base of Sheitan Kuh. Take the small tea-field lane that parallels the main Ramsar road (from which the mausoleum can also be glimpsed east of the bypass).
Of several attractive villages in the appealing semi-alpine mountain hinterland, the best known is Deilaman (60km).
SLEEPING & EATING
Chaharfasl Mehmankhaneh ( 222 3222; Shohada Sq; tw/tr IR80,000/95,000; ) Well-kept if basic rooms with fridge and TV share separate bathrooms up steps marked ‘Drawing Room’. Some rooms are windowless.
Tourist Inn (Mehmansara Jahangardi; 223 3051; off Sepah Sq; tw US$45; ) Comfortable, well-equipped rooms with a perfect central location and a restaurant that overlooks the western edge of the lake.
Several snack bars and kababis lie along Karimi St that links Shohada and Vahdat Sqs perpendicular to Kashef St (400m).
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Savaris from Rasht (IR6000, 45 minutes) arrive at Vahdat Sq and leave (unofficially) from near Shohoda Sq. Minibuses (IR2000) and official savaris use Entezam Sq about 1.5km further west. For Ramsar and Chalus transport leaves from near Basij Sq, a junction 200m northeast of the Tourist Inn.
Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh
Die-hard Imam Reza fans add Astaneh, near Lahijan, to their busy pilgrimage schedules. That’s to visit the