Iran - Andrew Burke [287]
ITTIC Shahrud Tourist Inn (Mehmansara Jahangardi; 222 6078; fax 222 4008; Saderian St; d/tr US$35/40; ) Freshly painted walls and nice new curtains contrast with archaic old bathrooms and a strange mix of old and new furniture. It’s peacefully set amid pine trees 300m from Azadi Sq on a street that runs parallel to Ferdosi.
Eating
Note that none of the following have English on their signs, let alone their menus.
Coffee Shop Soorena (off Azadi Sq; sundaes IR12,000-16,000, coffees IR7000-16,000; 9am-1pm & 5-10pm Sat-Thu, 5-10pm Fri) Though tiny, this mood-lit ice-cream parlour-café is the most stylish of several eateries around the south side of Azadi Sq. Mocha comes thick with chocolate sediment.
Ayaran Restaurant ( 224 2540; Abshar Park; meals IR20,000-50,000; 10.30am-midnight) Unusually good juje kababs (grilled chicken pieces) are served in a timber-roofed rotunda constructed around a living tree or outside at tables in the pine woods.
Ferdosi Restaurant ( 222 2958; 22 Bahman St; pizzas from IR22,000, kabab meals IR25,000-40,000; noon-3.30pm & 7-10.30pm) Facing the bazaar entrance the Ferdosi is handy for Jomhuri Sq. Its pine ceilings and wood-effect walls come close to stylish minimalism, and it has a wide-ranging menu.
Getting There & Around
Iran Peyma, Taavoni 3 and Seiro Safar all have handy ticket offices on or near Jomhuri Sq but most long-distance buses actually depart from the hopelessly inconvenient main bus terminal 5km south down Tehran St (IR1500 by shuttle taxi). Iran Peyma services include the following:
Savaris to Azad Shahr (IR30,000) and Sabzevar leave from relevant points on Imam Reza Sq, 300m northeast of Azadi Sq. Just beyond (northeast of the Atlantic Petrol Station) is Terminal-e Shomal ( 222 3201; Bastam Hwy), a small, hidden yard from which minibuses leave when full to Azad Shahr (IR6000, 1¾ hours; IR10,000 2¼ hours back) plus at 9.30am to Gonbad-e Kavus (IR7000) and at 8am, 9am and 2pm to Gorgan (IR10,000). Savaris and occasional minibuses to Bastam (15 minutes) leave from 17 Shahrivar St just off Imam Sq. Savaris and minibuses to Mojen (30 minutes) leave from 15 Khordat St just off Sadeghi St, two blocks northwest of Jomhuri Sq.
Shahrud train station, on the Tehran–Mashhad train line, is about 3km southeast of Jomhuri Sq.
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AROUND SHAHRUD
Bastam
Ancient Bastam is now a modest village 7km from Shahrud. It’s centred on the quietly photogenic Bayazid Historical Complex (Imam Khomeini Sq; admission free; dawn-dusk), 300m off the main Shahrud–Azad Shahr road up Taleqani Blvd. This collection of mostly 13th-century blue-tiled buildings surrounds the simple grave of Bayazid Bastami (AD 804–874), a philosopher nicknamed ‘Sultan of gnostics’ who fused Muslim, Mithraic and Zoroastrian ideas in formulating a poetic form of Sufism. Behind the grave, Imamzadeh Mohammad has an attractive almost Art Nouveau floral interior. The associated Bayazid mosque has a remarkable grey mihrab, glass-protected carved wooden doors and timber pillars supporting a fine log ceiling.
One block behind the complex, the mud-daub walled 1285 Jameh Mosque (off Madiyeh St) backs onto the fine 1313 Borj Kashani, a circular tomb-tower that possibly doubled as an astronomical observatory like that at Radkan. The mosque reportedly contains superb stucco-work but getting in can be hit-and-miss.
Informal shared taxis pick up passengers outside the historical complex for rides into Shahrud (IR1250).
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MASHHAD
0511 / pop 2,965,000
Mashhad is Iran’s holiest and second biggest city. Its raison d’être and main sight is the beautiful, massive and ever-growing Haram (shrine complex) commemorating the AD 817 martyrdom of Shia Islam’s eighth Imam, Imam Reza. The pain of Imam Reza’s death is still felt very personally over a millennium later and around 20 million pilgrims converge here each year to pay their respects (and no small amount of money) to the Imam. Witnessing their tears is a moving experience, even