Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
crater's edge should take under 15 minutes. The path is muddy but obvious, zig-zagging
up from the Takab road about 4km south of the main Takht-e Soleiman ruins.
Getting There & Away
Unless you charter a ride from Zanjan or Dandy, the approach is from Takab. From a
small taxi stand on the western edge of Takab town, taxis ask US$7 return including
enough time to quickly run around the site and to dash up Zendan-e Soleiman. Add US$2
per hour if you hang around. Savaris and minibuses only run to Nosratabad once or twice
a day and leave you 2km short of Takht-e Soleiman. Traffic is often very thin making
hitchhiking awkward.
Sanandajجدننس
0871 / POP 358,000 / ELEV 1502M
Even by Iran's super-hospitable standards, Sanandaj is a remarkably friendly city. It's the
capital of Kordestan province, a good base for visits to Palangan and a great place to learn
more about Kurdish history and culture. You'll see plenty of men wearing traditional cum-
merbunds and baggy Kurdish trousers. Yet it's a modern, noticeably prosperous city with
a large, fashionable population of students ever anxious to try out their English. In
Sanandaj's Sorani-Kurdish
ju-an
means beautiful and
deso hoshbe
means thank you.
History
Originally known as Senna (as it still is to local Kurds), the city was of major importance
in the Middle Ages but withered to nothing in the chaotic post-Chaldoran era. A
dej
(fort-
ress) was built here in the early 18th century and Senna-dej slowly developed into
Sanandaj. From here the powerful Ardalan emirs came to rule the last autonomous prin-
cipality of Iranian Kurdistan up until 1867. Under the Ardalans the town developed many
fine 19th-century buildings, though most have since been lost to rapacious 20th-century
development. Busily commercial Ferdosi St links the twin centres Enqelab and Azadi Sqs.
From the latter, Abidar St slopes up into the folds of a rocky ridge that was the city's his-
toric defence and is today the pleasant
Abidar mountain park
.
