Iran - Andrew Burke [147]
Savaris and occasional minibuses to Soltaniyeh (IR5000) and Ghydar (IR17,000) leave from Honarestan Sq.
If you’re driving to Tabriz, notice the paws of eroded low cliffs in dramatic tiger-striped pink and white layers after 115km.
The train station is beyond a Dali-esque gateway of winged wheels. Best-timed departures for Tehran (IR9850 to IR14,500, four hours) via Qazvin (two hours) are at 6.14am and 8.24am. Tickets are hard to find for the 9.45pm and 23.10pm sleepers to Tabriz (IR30,000, 8½ hours) via Maraqeh (five hours).
Getting Around
Useful shuttle-taxis run from Enqelab Sq to Honarestan Sq passing near the terminal. Others go from Sabz Sq to Esteqlal Sq.
Return to beginning of chapter
ZANJAN TO TAKAB & BIJAR
A great way to visit Takht-e Soleiman (see below) is by chartering a taxi for a day from Zanjan (around IR350,000, full day with stops) travelling on afterwards via Takab to be dropped off in Bijar. If you take the daily Zanjan–Dandy minibus (around 9am), use Dandy’s taxi stand ( 0242-352 2566) to charter a ride for the last 50km to Takht-e Soleiman.
Zanjan to Takht-e Soleiman
The route passes some fabulously timeless villages, particularly once you’ve passed the un-exotic mining town of Dandy. Shikhlar, 20km from Dandy, is dramatically backed by the pyramidal peak of Tozludagh (Dusty Mountain). Qaravolkhana, 20km further (10km before Takht-e Soleiman), has particularly picturesque mud-block homes rising between spindly trees and a lurid, metallic-green igloo-shaped mini-shrine at its southern end. Bucolic meadowland behind offers great hikes and the possible ascent of Mt Belqeis, topped by fragmentary ruins of a Sassanid line-of-sight fortress.
Takht-e Soleiman
THE MAIN RUINS
Sitting in a high, lonely bowl of mountains ringed by 1500-year-old fortress walls, this Unesco World Heritage site ( 0482 563 3311; admission IR5000; 8am-sunset) is one of the most memorable sights of western Iran. In the 3rd century AD the state religion of Sassanian Persia was Zoroastrianism and Takht-e Soleiman (then called Azergoshnasb) was its spiritual centre. The site was perfect. Zoroastrianism had by this stage incorporated many Magi-inspired elements, including the veneration of earth, wind (plenty here), water and fire. Water (albeit undrinkably poisonous) was provided in abundance by the limpidly beautiful ‘bottomless’ crater lake that still forms the centre of the site. This pours forth 90L per second and would have been channelled through an Anahita-style water temple (see boxed text). The fire was provided thanks to a natural volcanic gas channelled through ceramic pipes to sustain an ‘eternal flame’ in the ateshkadeh (fire temple).
Today only relatively fragmentary ruins remain and you shouldn’t expect Persepolis-style carvings. Nonetheless, the sheer age and magnificent setting here are attractions enough.
Takht-e Soleiman’s name (Throne of Solomon) is not based on real historical links to Old Testament King Solomon. It was in fact a cunning 7th-century invention by the temple’s Persian guardians in the face of the Arab invasion. Realising Islam’s reverence for biblical prophets they entirely fabricated a tale of Solomon’s one-time residence to avert the site’s certain destruction. The ruse worked, the complex survived and the name stuck.
In the 13th century, Takht-e Soleiman became a summer retreat for the Mongol Ilkhanid khans. The remnants of their hunting palace is now covered with a discordant modern roof forming a store-room (often locked) for amphora, unlabelled column fragments, photos and a couple of ceramic sections of those ancient gas pipes.
A guide is often available at the site gate and can help you make sense of all the piles of stone if you share enough language. Alternatively, navigate yourself using a glossy bilingual Farsi/English map/brochure (IR3000), which are sold at the ticket booth but not displayed. Ask.
Takht-e Soleiman is 2km from Nosratabad. Archaeologists believe that beneath that mud-and-haystack village is the site of Shiz, once