Iran - Andrew Burke [163]
A narrow lane continues 4km to the Tarik Dare ski slopes ( Thu & Fri winter) and in summer a road winds on very attractively right across Mt Alvand’s lower slopes to Oshtoran near Tuyserkan (opposite).
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Shared taxis (IR2000) take approximately 20 minutes departing from Shari’ati St near the Esther & Mordecai Tomb. They’re fairly frequent at weekends, but midweek you’ll probably have to charter (from IR10,000 each way). Finding a ride back can take a while.
Ali Sadr Caves
0812
For most Iranians these highly commercialised caves (Qar Ali Sadr; 553 3440; locals/foreigners IR5000/150,000; 8am-4pm winter, 8am-9pm summer) constitute quite simply western Iran’s greatest tourist attraction. You might not agree. Indeed if you have visited vastly more impressive equivalents in France or Lebanon, you are best to be prepared for a major disappointment.
The caves rise to a maximum internal height of 40m, with a river (up to 14m deep) flowing through the middle. Visits through the caves take about two hours with no ‘escape’ possible once you’ve begun. You start and end with a 20-minute trip on the underground river in roped-together paddle-boats. The boat route is colourfully lit, though the big central cavern has many more steps than geological superlatives. In summer the caves feel cool, so bring a sweater. In winter it’s refreshingly warm compared with the snow-bound exterior.
Close to the cave entrance Ali Sadr Hotel (Mehmansara; /fax 553 3312; tent/tw/bungalow IR50,000/250,000/200,000; ) has a decent restaurant and reasonable rooms with bathrooms. Out of season prices are negotiable and the location would make it a delightfully peaceful getaway and possible trekking base. Stalls around the cave entrance sell drinks and there’s even a teahouse within the cave.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From Hamadan, minibuses run to Ali Sadr village several times daily (IR7000, 1½ hours). Taxis want around IR200,000 return with waiting time: consider stopping briefly en route to admire the remarkable mud walls of fortified farm village Mihamlar Ohlea at the roadside. Tours by Hamadan’s Ali Sadr Travel Agency in Hamadan cost IR4500 per person including return transport and snacks but not entrance fees.
Malayer
0851 / pop 181,000
Taking public transport between Hamadan and Borujerd or Nahavand you’ll probably have to change in Malayer (pronounced ma-loy-ya). If so, look out for the ancient beehive-domed Yakhchad-e Mirfattah (usually locked). This was the medieval equivalent of a deep freezer: ice put inside in winter would stay frozen well into summer. It’s amid trees and suburban fields, visible from Tusi Blvd (the ring road), less than 1km southwest of Taavon Sq from which savaris leave to Borujerd and Nahavand. Savaris for Hamadan leave from Revolution Sq (Meydan Enqelab) 2km northeast, IR1000 by shared taxi.
Around Malayer
Nushijan (Tappeh Nush-e Jan)
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ANAHITA
Zoroastrianism had always venerated the four elements but it was fundamentally a monotheistic faith worshiping Ahura Mazda. So when Achaemenian king Artaxerxes II (404–359 BC) starting wall-papering Kangavar’s temple in solid gold to honour Anahita () as an anthropomorphic ‘water goddess’, he seems to have been acting under the heavy cultural influence of his Greek wife. Not that that stopped Persia warring with Greece: the temple’s incredible wealth was eventually seized and plundered by Alexander the Great’s Greek forces around 331 BC.
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Sitting on an abrupt pimple of hill amid flat, comparatively fertile plains this unique Median Citadel ( 225 1225; admission IR4000; 8am-5pm) originally hosted the fortified grain stores and temples of a 7th-century BC settlement. It’s relatively small and shaded by steel-girders with ugly shed-roofing, but nonetheless makes a worthwhile 3km diversion from the Malayer–Hamadan road. Before climbing the hill, stop at the sparse exhibition centre where friendly staff use models and pictures to make sense of the mud-daub walls, arches and tunnels that you’ll see up top. Then drive on 600m