Iran - Andrew Burke [295]
Jahan Hotel Restaurant (Map; 225 0085; top fl, Jahan Hotel, Hozeino Alley; meals IR42,000-68,000; 12.30-2.30pm & 7.30-9.30pm) Kababs, schnitzels or trout (IR49,500) are unremarkable but truly phenomenal views across the Haram make lunch-time dining here a must. Enter via the hotel, easily missed beneath a Bank Mellat sign. Don’t be late!
Atlas Hotel Restaurant (Map; 1st fl, Hotel Atlas, Falakeh Ab; meals IR50,000-90,000; noon-3pm & 7-10.45pm) For steak and chips in a middle class setting, this comfortable hotel restaurant opens longer than most and the coffeehouse downstairs has an espresso machine.
Hezardestan Traditional Teahouse (Map; 222 2943; Jannat Mall; meals IR60,000-140,000; lunch & dinner) Hezardestan is one of Iran’s most beautiful teahouse-restaurants. Carpets, samovars, antique qalyans, cushions and wooden benches are surrounded by walls adorned with scenes from Ferdosi’s Shahnamah. There’s live music most nights, the manager speaks fluent English and the food is pretty good including vegetarian possibilities. Just be prepared for hefty ‘service’ and ‘tea’ charges that can double the bill.
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WORTH ITS WEIGHT
Cleopatra added it to her mare’s-milk baths. Indian Buddhists dyed their robes with it. Romans slapped it on to cure scabies. And Alexander the Great used it to patch up his battle scars. Today saffron adds flavour and colour to Cornish saffron cake and Spanish paella as well as to chelo (rice) in Iran where it remains Persia’s classic ‘spice’. Saffron comes from the delicately dried stigmas of Crocus sativus flowers, grown extensively in southern regions of Khorasan. But producing a kilogram of saffron requires around 200,000 flowers. No wonder it’s often so staggeringly pricey.
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Shopping
Mashhad is a great place to buy carpets. Half hidden through deceptively small doorways, both Bazaar-e Fash (Map; Imam Reza St; 8.30am-1.30pm & 4-8.30pm Sat-Wed, 8.30am-1pm Thu) and Saroye Saeed (Map; Andarzgu St; 8am-2pm & 4-7pm) are multi-unit carpet markets mostly aimed at bulk dealers so prices can be excellent. Both places have interesting top-floor repair workshops and remarkably there seems to be no sales pressure.
The wobbly, wooden-ceilinged old carpet bazaar (Map; 13th Alley, Andarzgu St) is more commercial minded but slated for eventual demolition if the shrine’s expansion continues.
Upstairs in the 800m-long Bazar-e Reza (Map; 8am-8pm Sat-Thu), jewellery stalls proffer turquoise (mined at nearby Neishabur) but their sales pitch is often more impressive than their gems.
Around Falakeh Ab, shops sell comparatively inexpensive saffron (see the boxed text, above) in a range of qualities: a highly portable souvenir.
The Haram is surrounded by bazaars and shopping arcades flogging tacky pilgrimage souvenirs. Try to resist the considerable temptation to buy an over saturated photograph of yourself superimposed upon the Holy Shrine.
Getting There & Away
During peak seasons long-distance transport can be booked up months ahead.
AIR
International Services
Iran Aseman (Map; 225 8200; Andarzgu St) has flights to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan, single/return IR2,350,000/3,664,000, Tuesday), Dushanbe (Tajikistan, IR2,020,000/2,840,000, Tuesday), Kuwait (IR1,050,000/1,850,000, Wednesday and Friday) and Kabul (IR1,820,000/2,300,000 Monday). KamAir (www.flykamair.ca) also flies to Kabul (IR1,334,000/2,330,000, Saturday). To go further afield, use connections via Bahrain with Gulf Air (IR1,817,000/3,129,000, twice weekly) or Doha with Qatar Airways (IR2,135,000/3,578,000, thrice weekly). Check out Jazeera Airways (www.jazeeraairways.com) for budget flights from Kuwait (Wednesday and Friday in season), starting at 15 Kuwaiti dinars (US$52).
Domestic Services
To Tehran there are 63 weekly flights (IR433,000) on six different airlines, including Saha Air, which uses the world’s last Boeing 707s still in passenger