Iran - Andrew Burke [174]
The site is one long block north of Shahrivar Sq then three minutes’ walk to the east.
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THE BAKHTIYARI
The nomadic Bakhtiyari’s traditional goat-herding migration (around 350km each way between seasonal pastures) inspired feisty writers like Gertrude Bell (in 1902) and Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury buddy Vita Sackville-West (in 1927) to follow their footsteps. It is also the subject of two inspiring documentary movies including Oscar-nominated People of the Wind (1976). Today some migrations continue. Although the predominant use of trucks rather than bare-footed toil to transport the flocks makes for a rather less glamorous image, meeting hospitable Bakhtiyaris in their make-shift tent-camps is still a highlight of travel in northern Khuzestan.
See also Iran’s Nomads, Click here.
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OTHER SIGHTS
Visible from the minibus as you arrive from Ahvaz, Imamzadeh Abdullah has a white pinecone of a central tower reminiscent of Daniel’s tomb in Shush. A gory local tale records a woman beheading her own son to swap his head for the skull of a long-dead holy man, which is now enshrined here as a sacred relic. Colourfully decked with strings of lights, the building resembles a cruise liner against the evening horizon. At its foot is the small but impressive 11-arched ancient Lashgar Bridge.
A short walk south of the bus terminal, the partly 9th-century Jameh Mosque (Masjid Jameh Lane) has a truncated, gently leaning minaret and sits in a quiet tree-filled quadrangle of fruit-sellers.
Just beyond the Hotel Jahangardi is a great viewpoint beside the octagonal Kola Ferangi tower, which looks like (and probably was) a stone lighthouse, though local lore relates that Shapur’s slave driver would watch over the Roman prisoners from here surveying progress on the Band-e-Mizan (Sassanid weir) that divided the river to provide water for the watermills. Across the water you’ll see the blue-domed Seyid Mohammad Golabi Shrine behind which rises an iwan of the vast new Sheikh Alome Shushtari Shrine. Currently in yellow brick, it entombs the 20th-century philosopher Mohammad Taq Shushtari and should eventually be covered in fabulous blue tiling, Esfahan style. About 1km further such tiling already graces the brilliant and considerably older Saheb-al Zaman shrine at which awed devotees have supposedly made sightings of the Mahdi (last imam), hence the ‘empty seat’ shrine box.
Sleeping & Eating
Mehmanpazir Shushtar ( 622 3288; Sharafat St; s/d/tr IR100,000/120,000/150,000) Recently rebuilt with reasonably neat tiled floors, this upstairs place charges what it feels you’ll pay, apparently irrespective of whether you get a room with an OK bathroom or have to share the communal squat toilet. Mattresses and sheets are clean and new.
Hotel Jahangardi ( 622 1690, fax 622 1692; Sarafat St; s/tw/tr IR225,000/278,000/331,000; ) Right beside the river you can gaze across to the mausolea from this wonderful location that’s peaceful until nocturnal tourists decide to crank up their party music. The clean, reasonably comfortable rooms have bathrooms.
Restaurant Abshar ( 622 4805; Shahrivar Sq; meals IR25,000; 7.30am-3pm & 5-10pm). There’s a good selection of eateries around Shahrivar Sq of which this deceptively cavernous eatery makes a friendly choice and supplements kababs and ghorme sabzi (meat and vegetables with rice) with scrumptious spit-roast chicken (IR50,000 half-bird).
Several shops sell Shushtar’s famous pickles and preserved fruits. Local koluche (soft-centred biscuits with a hint of caraway) taste best when stuffed with dates.
Getting There & Away
Shushtar’s single, handily central bus terminal is a block north and west from Shahriyar Sq, between Almas and Sheikh Sts. Very regular buses run to Ahvaz (IR5000, 1½ hours) and Dezful (IR2000, one hour), where