Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
jan on the motorway, get off at the junction marked 'Bijar' (an easy, obvious 2km walk
from central Zanjan) NOT at the 'Zanjan' exit, which is around 10km out to the east.
Savaris and occasional minibuses to Soltaniyeh (US$1) leave from Honarestan Sq.
The train station is beyond a Dali-esque gateway of winged wheels. Best-timed depar-
tures for Tehran (US$2 to US$4.50, four hours) via Qazvin (two hours) are at 6.14am and
8.24am. Tickets are hard to find for the 9.45pm and 11.10pm sleepers to Tabriz (US$7,
8½ hours) via Maraqeh (five hours).
Getting Around
Useful shuttle-taxis run from Enqelab Sq to Honarestan Sq passing near the terminal. Oth-
ers go from Sabz Sq to Esteqlal Sq.
THRONE OF SOLEIMAN
A great way to visit
Takht-e Soleiman
(see below) is by chartering a taxi for a day from Zanjan (around US$40,
full day with stops) travelling on afterwards via Takab to be dropped off in Bijar. The route passes some fabulously
timeless villages, particularly once you've passed the unexotic mining town of Dandy.
Shikhlar
, 20km west of
Dandy is dramatically backed by the pyramidal peak of
Tozludagh
(Dusty Mountain).
Qaravolkhana
, 20km fur-
ther (10km before Takht-e Soleiman), has particularly picturesque mud-block homes rising between spindly trees
and a lurid, metallic-green igloo-shaped mini-shrine at its southern end. Bucolic meadowland behind offers great
hikes and the possible ascent of
Mt Belqeis
, topped by fragmentary ruins of a Sassanid line-of-sight fortress.
If you take the daily Zanjan-Dandy minibus (around 9am), use Dandy's
taxi stand
(
0242 352 2566)
to
charter a ride for the last 50km to Takht-e Soleiman.
Takht-e Soleimanنامیلس تخت
ELEV 2152M
THE MAIN RUINS
Sitting in a high, lonely bowl of mountains ringed by 1500-year-old fortress walls, this
Unesco World Heritage Site
( 0482-563 3311; admission US$1; 8am-sunset)
is
one of the most memorable sights of western Iran. In the 3rd century AD the state religion
of Sassanian Persia was Zoroastrianism (
Click here
)
and Takht-e Soleiman (then called
