Iran - Andrew Burke [235]
The history of the Gulf is tied inextricably to trade. Africans, Arabs, Indians and Europeans as far back as Alexander the Great have passed by this way, some finding business so good they’ve set up shop and stayed. The result is a rich hybrid of ancient Persia and Arabia that is best seen in Bandari communities, such as Bushehr, Hormoz and Minab. These communities are unusual in Iran, with most Bandaris being Sunni Muslims, speaking Arabic at home and wearing more colourful clothes. They’re known as Bandaris because they live in bandars (ports). Qeshm Island is probably the highlight of the Gulf, and its tiny village of Laft is the jewel in its sun-scorched crown. Sitting with the locals as the sun sets over the forest of badgirs (windtowers) and lenges (traditional wooden boats) is almost worth the trip to the coast by itself.
Unfortunately, most travellers avoid the coast because of inconvenient transport times, relatively expensive accommodation, the distance from Iran’s mainstream destinations and the enervating heat. Winter days often enjoy clear skies and 25°C, but it’s hot by March and diabolically hot – like, 50°C – in summer.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Take an early morning speedboat to sleepy Hormoz Island and climb through the silent history of the Portuguese Castle
Enjoy a delicious meal in the converted stone water cistern that is Ghavam Restaurant in Bushehr
Watch the sun set behind wooden lenges in the unfeasibly photogenic Bandari village of Laft, on Qeshm Island
Become one of the few people to have dived on the reefs and wrecked tankers off Qeshm Island
Shop and shoot photos ‘til you drop at Minab’s colourful Thursday Market
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BUSHEHR
0771 / pop 176,000
Visitors tend to rave about or revile the old city of Bushehr, Iran’s main seaport in the northern Gulf. Readers have described the once-elegant Bandari architecture, twisting mud-brick lanes and peninsular situation as both ‘a living museum’ and a clapped-out ruin resembling ‘Grozny after the third Russian war’. Both descriptions are partly right.
The Bushehris like to talk to foreigners and are welcoming of the few travellers who make it this far, though anyone white will likely be mistaken for a Russian. That is because more than 1000 Russians have been working in Bushehr for several years to complete the Bushehr nuclear reactor (see also The Nuclear Issue, Click here). Some locals blame the reactor, or at least the threat that it will be bombed, for poor services and an overall lack of investment in their city. Whether that is fair or not is impossible for us to say, but it’s certainly true that almost nothing is being done to maintain or restore Bushehr’s crumbling heritage.
In short, if you like to go where others don’t, have an interest in Bandari culture or plan on working your way along the Persian Gulf coast, then Bushehr is worth a visit. If not, it’s a long way to come for silly heat and expensive hotels.
History
Much of Bushehr’s history lies in the town of Rishahr, 12km to the south, which dates back as far as the Elamite era. Rishahr was one of the chief trading centres of the Persian Gulf from the 7th to 16th centuries, but dwindled in importance after Bandar Abbas was established in the early 17th century.
In 1734 Nader Shah chose the village of Bushehr to become Persia’s principal port and naval station. Its prosperity was assured when, in 1759, the British East India Company, then the power in the Persian Gulf, moved to Bushehr after the French destroyed its factory at Bandar Abbas.
In the mid-19th century Bushehr was important enough to become the seat of the British political residency on the Persian Gulf. However, Bushehr’s long, slow decline began in the 1930s when it was bypassed by the trans-Iranian railway in favour of the ports in Khuzestan province. The British closed their consulate in 1951. Bushehr was an important naval base during the Iran