Qazvin, Ardabil and Alvaz
I Ieft Tehran and Nilufer to travel for the remainder of the tour around Iran’s World Heritage sites with my new guide and driver, Amir. The drive to Qazvin took a few hours due to fairly intense traffic getting out of the city that stretches for what seems like forever. Tehran may officially be home to 20 million people, but the sprawl makes it seem like a rival to Beijing, with traffic to match. Once we got away from the metropolitan area, fields came back into view and soon thereafter we were in Qazvin, which is noted for having the first modern school, the first modern hotel, the first street and was the first municipality in Iran. For all these firsts, we stayed in an old traditional house that has been recently renovated as a B&B. The fellow running the inn was a high school English teacher, so he was able to share the history and design of the house with me. It was a few hundred years old and the garden was in the typical Iranian style with four corner garden beds filled with flowers and trees around a central shallow pool with fountain. Paths formed a cross separating the pool and garden beds, and surrounded the entire complex. Rooms were on all four sides, and originally there had been three courtyards, but now there was only the one. The first had been redone for parking spaces, and the last was now occupied by the communal bathroom and restroom facilities. The house was delightful, although the bed was rock hard and my back – after now 5 nights of not being able to sleep given the solid mattresses or floor – was simply killing me. I needed to find an air mattress to sleep on or better beds. In the morning before going to any of the sites, we went in search of something, but none of the toy or camping stores sold anything I could use. Defeated, we turned back to the World Heritage sites in town & I silently prayed for a decent bed in our next hotel.
Qzzvin’s list of firsts exceeded itself with their sites. The first place was Chehel Sotun, which was Shah Tahmasp’s royal palace. Originally built in 1510, it was remodeled during the 19th C Qajar period. There is a wonderful garden in the courtyard, which provides shade and a cooler spot to be in the heat of the summer. There used to be four gates to the palace grounds, but only one is existent. Inside the palace is a calligraphy museum, although the magnificent palace walls are more interesting than the calligraphy exhibit. Nearby is Chohar Anbiya which is dedicated to four Jewish Prophets ( I’m not sure which ones) and one grandson of Imam Husayn, who was also an Imam. (As I went through the country the supposed number of children and grandchildren of Imam Husayn rivaled that of Ramses II!). Our last stop in Qazvin was a bit of a surprise as it wasn’t on the agenda, but we were passing the entrance so we stopped in, namely the Qazvin Museum. This should be put onto every itinerary to the city as it is an excellent little museum. It had a Sumerian head and torso, a number of pre-Islamic artifacts and tools, and cases filled with exquisite medieval glass and ceramic works.
It was getting late, so we headed back to the car for the drive to Ardabil with a stop over at Soltaniyeh. Soleimann Dome (Gonbad-e Soltaniyeh) is the oldest intact double dome; it was modeled on Sultan Sanjar’s Mausoleum in Merv, Turkmenistan (pls. see Merv photos and blog). The structure was built between 1303 to 1313 inside the royal citadel. According to the brochure, the dome is 48.5 m in height and about 25.5m in diameter, making it the third largest dome after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence. The citadel was based on a square design with 16 ramparts and two northern and southern gates. Most of the construction material is brick that was covered with turquoise blue faience, various kinds of tiles, painting on the whitewashed chalk. There is a mix of stalactite and plaster work in the niches and throughout the dome. It is an excellent surviving example of Ilkhanid architecture. The structure from the outside is quite impressive as it is from what we could see through the scaffolding that covers the interior.
Back on the road, we headed towards Azeri territory, namely towards Ardabil. The name comes from a Zoroastrian word for holy place, and it is the site of the tomb of Sheikh Safi-ad-Din of the Safavids. Mountains surround the region, the most notable being Mt. Sabalan at 4,811 m. The various deities must have heard my prayers, as I finally had a bed that was soft enough to sleep on! (Hallelujah!!! – ahh, the simple comforts of life on the roadJ)
Sheikh Safi-ad-Din’s mausoleum is a veritable treasure chest of artwork. The minaret, known as the Allah Allah Tower has turquoise tiled calligraphy spelling God’s name around the cylindrical structure. The ceilings are painted stalactites in vibrant colors that radiate out like the sun, and the floors are covered with exquisite Ardabil carpets. The lantern house (Ghandil Khaheh) is filled with gold and indigo decorations, while the 1612 chinaroom (Chini Khaheh) has honeycombed vaulted gilt niches for gifts, mostly of porcelain. The niches are empty today as many of the artifacts were stolen by the Russians and taken to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The site was a spiritual retreat for Sufis in the 16th-18th C and the route to the actual shrine room is divided into seven segments representing the seven states of Sufi mysticism. They are separated by eight gates representing the eight attitudes identified by that belief system.
Ardabil is also home of an old Marien church that has been turned into a Gymkana, a traditional Iranian men’s workout club, but the building is now closed off, and one can’t see over the iron gates and brick walls. The Safavid era bridges in the center of town, however, offer a pleasant urban walk along the Aras River, where according to some legends Zoroaster was born. (When and where this Prophet was born is not known; many places in Iran and Central Asia claim him.)
Amir is a good sport and even if it wasn’t on the official agenda, I wanted to get to an Iranian ski resort as we were within 50 km of Alvaz, we went. We were both glad we did. The ski resort is 9 km up the mountain from the hotsprings resort of Saraeyn. It is on the side of Mt. Sabalan, where Zoroaster supposedly wrote the Avesta. Local folklore says that the day there is no snow on Mt. Sabalan the world will end. I wonder if this is forecasting global warming. When we got to the base there was one chairlift that was operational. In fact I think there is only this one lift, even in the winter as there was no evidence of any others. There was a roundhouse for tea at the top of the lift. Amir was concerned about the cost of using the chair, but I convinced him that I would gladly pay the $4 for the chance to get up. I had thought that the Agaizze lift on Snowbowl was the slowest lift in the world, but this one surpassed even that. Regardless, it was a stunning chairlift ride, and the view at the top spectacular. We met a couple from the south of Iran who were on their honeymoon traveling around the country and Amir had a nice chat with them. I’m out of the loop as I speak no Farsi. But everyone goes out of their way to welcome me to their country. We had tea in the roundhouse heated by a kerosene burner that emitted some fairly potent fumes , before heading down the mountain to drive the four hours to Tabriz. On the chairlift descent, in a country where hardly anyone speaks English, a couple behind us were loudly singing “Old McDonald had a farm” – it was a hoot!
