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is conducted through a tiny hole-in-the-wall window and no English is spoken so if you don’t understand Farsi, Turkmen or Russian consider going with a translator. For a five-day transit visa you’ll need an onward visa (Uzbek is best, Azerbaijani sometimes accepted). Photocopy that visa and your main passport page, facing each other onto a single sheet of A4 paper. Hand this in, stating the entry and exit points by which you’ll transit Turkmenistan (inflexible). Then come back after five days by which time, insh’Allah, an approval letter will have arrived for you from Ashgabat. If it has, you may now apply for the visa. This requires two more passport copies and two photos. It normally takes four days but since you’ll need your passport for hotel accommodation in Iran, they’ll usually handle applications for foreigners within 24 hours (for double the fee; fees vary by nationality). There’s a handy photocopy shop three doors from Baghoi Exchange.

EMERGENCY

Imam Reza Hospital (Map; 854 3031-9; Ibn-e Sina St) Good, accessible hospital with 24-hour pharmacy.

INTERNET ACCESS

Aftabshargh Coffeenet (Map; Imam Khomeini St; per hr IR5000; 9am-9pm)

Attar Coffeenet (Map; Falakeh Ab; per hr IR7000; 24hr) Three floors up. Very central.

Coffeenet Dalahoo (Map; Imam Reza St; per hr IR6000; 24hr) Good connection but tends to overheat in the daytime.

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THE MARTYRDOM OF IMAM REZA

Within Mashhad’s holy shrine, pilgrims break into conspicuous, heartfelt outpourings of grief for murdered Imam Reza as though his assassination (with poisoned grapes and pomegranate juice) were only yesterday. In fact it was in AD 818.

The story starts 20 years earlier with Haroun ar-Rashid, immortalised as the great caliph in the Arabian Nights fairy-tales. Less fictionally, Haroun ruled the Abbasid caliphate and was very influential in bringing Greek-style analytic thinking and cosmopolitan sophistication to Arab-Muslim society. His temporal power was unassailable. But he coveted the spiritual pre-eminence of Musa, the seventh Shiite Imam. Musa was eventually slapped into Haroun’s Baghdad jail, then killed.

Musa’s 35-year-old son Ali al-Raza (Razavi) inherited his father’s pious mantle becoming Imam Reza. Meanwhile, after Haroun’s death, Haroun’s sons Ma’mun and Amin slogged out a civil war to succeed their dad as caliph. Ma’mun, based temporarily in Merv, emerged victorious but needed Reza’s help to calm a series of revolts. Having failed to entice the Imam to support him voluntarily in this effort, Ma’mun’s agents dragged Reza forcibly across rebellious regions as a symbol of imperial power. However, the ploy appeared to be backfiring. The Imam’s charismatic presence captivated the royal court, leaving Ma’mun worried that he’d be upstaged. So out came those deadly grapes. Ma’mun disguised the crime by honouring Reza’s body with burial in Sanabad (today’s Mashhad) close to Ma’mun’s own father (and Reza’s father’s nemesis) Caliph Haroun.

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MONEY

Banks with foreign-exchange counters are relatively common but the exchange counters are faster and give fair rates.

Baghoi Exchange (Map; Imam Khomeini St; 9am-1.30pm & 5-7pm Sat-Wed, 9am-1pm Thu)

Saraf Exchange (Map; Imam Khomeini St; 9am-2pm & 5-8pm Sat-Thu)

Sepehri Exchange (Map; Pasdaran Ave; 9am-6pm Sat-Wed & 9am-2pm Thu)

PETROL RATION CARD OFFICE

Sherkate Mellie Naft-e-Iran (Map; 7633011; Janbaz Blvd at Blvd Sajjad)

POST

Main post office (Map; Tavala’i St) Use for parcels.

Post office (Map; Imam Khomeini St) Opposite Bank Melli. OK for stamps, but not parcels.

TOURIST INFORMATION

Information room (bus terminal arrivals area; 24hr) Library-style sitting room gives you space to think after a long journey. OK free maps indicate several museums that don’t yet exist.

Miras Ferhangi Khorasan (Map; 725 9311; Sadeghi Blvd; 8am-2pm Sat-Thu) Officially you need a letter from these folks before visiting some out-of-the-way sights like Robat Sharaf. They print lavish bilingual brochures for each district in Khorasan.

TOUR GUIDES & TRAVEL AGENCIES

Adibian