Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 325 0304;
www.darya-hotel.com
,
in Farsi; Shekari Blvd; s/d/ste US$35/45/65)
Great
free maps are available to guests at the comfortable if outwardly very 1970s hotel, two
minutes' walk west of the bus terminal.
Getting There & Away
To reach Tabriz choose from savari (US$4, 1¾ hours), bus (US$2, 2½ hours, twice
hourly) or train. For Takht-e Soleiman, savari-hop via Bonab (US$0.20, 25 minutes) or
Miyando'ab (US$2, 1½ hours).
Around Maraqeh
BONABبانب
0412 / POP 72,000 / ELEV 1290M
Bonab is known for bicycles and atomic research (most definitely don't go snooping
around its northern 'nuclear' suburbs).
For tourists the main attraction is Bonab's active
Mehrabad Mosque
(Motahhari St;
dawn-9pm)
near the junction of Bahonar and Ghom Sts. The exterior is modest but in-
side are splendid wooden support columns sporting coloured, faceted capitals dated 1083.
Just behind, an attractive former
hammam
(bathhouse) houses the appealing
Museum
of Anthropology
( 723 1033; admission free; 8am-2pm & 4-6pm, till 8pm sum-
mer)
, which has some engaging mannequin representations of Azari life.
The surprisingly comfortable
Laleh Hotel
( 726 0386; ring road; s/d/tr US$35/40/
45)
is a provincial hotel with a facade like an upmarket Chinese restaurant. Rooms have
leather seats, mirror-fronted desks and plenty of marble. But the highlight is a basement
bath complex
(admission US$1; 3-9pm for men)
of saunas, drop pools and two 10m
swimming pools. The complex is open daytime for women by negotiation.
Savaris to Miyando'ab and Maraqeh leave from Mo'allem Sq, marked by a conspicu-
ous copper-coloured statue of Ohadie-e Maraqehi, that's where the Maraqeh road meets
the ring road 900m east of the Mehrabad Mosque.
MIYANDO'ABبآودنایم
0481 / POP 138,000 / ELEV 1338M
