Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southeastern Iran Highlights
Shop and explore in Kerman's
Bazar-e Sartasari
(
Click here
)
Watch the sunset over the
Kaluts
(
Click here
)
, then bed down under a million
stars
Lunch with traditional music in Kerman's
Hamam-e Vakil Chaykhaneh
(
Click
Wander through the
Arg-e Bam
(
Click here
)
, still a highlight despite the earth-
quake
Take a day trip to
Mahan
(
Click here
)
, with its World Heritage-listed garden and
monumental shrine
Sleep in a cave in
Meymand
(
Click here
)
, the troglodyte village without a milli-
on tourists
Check out the 'new Arg' at picturesque
Rayen
(
Click here
)
Tuck into some world famous
Bami dates
and date-filled
colompeh
biscuits
Meymandدنمیم
0392 / POP 60 (130 IN SUMMER) / ELEV 2240M
'This mosque is about 180 years old', said the guide. 'It's the newest building in the vil-
lage.' Welcome to Meymand, a troglodyte village about equidistant from Shiraz, Yazd and
Kerman. Meymand has been continuously occupied for more than 3000 years (some say
10,000) and consists of 2560 rooms in 406 mostly uninhabited caves dug into the walls of
a valley. It's similar to Cappadocia in Turkey, albeit smaller and without the tourists.
Meymand isn't exactly busy but it sees enough day-trippers that the elderly village wo-
men have taken to selling locally woven baskets, wild herbs and traditional nomad hats
made of
namad
(wool soaked and pressed until it mats together). If you have someone to
translate for you, the herbs are pretty interesting, too. A local woman, Salma, prescribed
us herbs to treat diabetes and headache, and told us their medicinal use has been under-
stood by her family for generations. Given her parents both lived to be 100, she might be
onto something.
