Iran - Andrew Burke [184]
Minibuses to Qom (IR7000, two hours) leave from the southwestern corner of Valiasr Sq (Madkhal Sq; it’s the one with the New Age ziggurat in the middle) about every hour. You might also find savaris to Tehran here.
TRAIN
There are at least three trains a day between Kashan and Tehran (IR16,500, 3½ hours, 217km), but they generally pass in the middle of the night. There are also daily trains to Esfahan (four hours, 270km), and a daily nonluxury service to Kerman (10 hours, 711km), via Yazd (six hours, 475km), which passes Kashan at about 9pm and arrives in Kerman after 7am.
The train station ( 446 0010; Molla Sodra Blvd) is about 2km north of the city centre.
Getting Around
Taxis, shuttle taxis and buses run regularly between Fin and 15 Khordad Sq, or a taxi within town should cost about IR6000. For longer-term drivers, Tours.
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AROUND KASHAN
Several villages can be visited on day trips from Kashan. The most interesting are detailed in the following sections, though if you want to get off the track, Niasar (at 1710m above sea level) is an easy 35km savari or minibus trip away in a picturesque mountain setting. The sights include a well-preserved Sassanian-era fire temple, a unique, Parthian-era cave built as a Mithraist temple, the Niasar waterfall and famous rose fields, which bloom during late spring.
About 50km west of Kashan, Mashhad-e Ardehal is home to a once-magnificent Seljuk-era tomb that has suffered badly at the hands of what one reader accurately described as a ‘megalomaniac religious building program’. Shame. The tomb is for Sultan Ali ibn Mohammad, the son of the Fifth Imam, who was murdered here. It’s only really worth the trip for the carpet-washing ceremony (see below).
Namak Lake (Salt Lake) is about 60km east of Mashhad at the western edge of the Dasht-e Kavir. Guides in Kashan offer desert day trips to sand dunes near Maranjab (where there is also a restored caravanserai) and the cracked white surface of the lake.
Abyaneh
0362 / pop – a few old ladies most of the time / elev 2235m
The ancient village of Abyaneh is the perfect antidote to Iran’s bustling, traffic-clogged cities. Serenely situated at the foot of Mt Karkas (3899m), Abyaneh’s steep, twisting lanes of mud and stone wind through a maze of red mud-brick houses with lattice windows and fragile wooden balconies. It’s testament to both the age and isolation of Abyaneh that the elderly residents speak Middle Persian, an earlier incarnation of Farsi that largely disappeared centuries ago.
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THE CARPET-WASHING CEREMONY OF ARDEHAL
On the second Friday of the Iranian month of Mehr (usually early October, unless there is a clashing religious festival), the qali shuran (carpet-washing ceremony) is held at Mashhad-e Ardehal. The ceremony commemorates the assassination of Sultan Ali ibn Mohammad, the son of the Fifth Imam, who had settled in Fin (near Kashan) to bring Shia Islam to the people. After living in Fin and Ardahal (during summer) for several years, jealous officials plotted to assassinate him because he had become too powerful. He was attacked, but with support arriving from Fin was able to hold out for 10 days. Legend has it that it was only concluded after the desperate plotters sent 40 naked women ahead of them. It was too much for the Sultan, who led his men away to begin praying on carpets. They were murdered as they prayed. Later, followers from Fin placed the Sultan’s body on a carpet, washed it in accordance with tradition and buried it. They also washed the carpet.
On the anniversary of his murder, thousands of locals, joined