Northeastern Iran - Iran - page 485

Around Gorgan
KORDKUYیوکدرک
0173 / POP 31,000 / ELEV 28M
Attractive Park Jangal is a popular picnic site 5km behind Kordkuy (locally pronounced
Kord- koo ). However, the main reason to visit is to organise a beautiful if arduous 4WD
ride across the impressive forest escarpment to the Mil-e-Radkan tower.
The relatively high-class Bahman Hotel ( 322 1501; www.bahmanhotel.com ; Sari
Hwy; s/d/ste US$55/80/95) tries a little too hard to be colourfully grand but is comfortable
despite the road noise. It's 150m west of Shahrdari Sq where very frequent Gorgan savaris
arrive (US$1, 20 minutes).
MIL-E-RADKAN (WEST RADKAN TOWER)ناخدار لیم
An awkward but highly rewarding 4WD trip takes you right across the near-vertical
mountain ridge behind Kordkuy on a seemingly unending ladder of hairpin bends.
Glimpsed Caspian views are fabulous from the top near scruffy Drazno village. Scenery
remains appealing as you wind back down out of the forests into a secret valley of tradi-
tional mud-and-timber hamlets. Kondab and Latkueh villages, each requiring a slight de-
tour, are especially quaint. Eventually you find Mil-e-Radkan , sitting upon an astound-
ingly lonely knoll, wistfully gazing at the cliff-edged valley. In English it's sometimes
called West Radkan Tower to differentiate it from the better-known Radkan Tower ( Click
here ) . It was built for a military commander in AD 1020 by the Bavend dynasty of Tab-
arestan. Along with a small band of Arabic inscriptions it has some stylised Pahlavi let-
ters, virtually the last known use of that ancient script in Iran. Just getting here is a thrill.
Dry-weather 4WD tracks continue from the Radkan Valley to Dibaj (1½ hours) from
where you could take a savari to Damghan (US$4). However, finding transport from
Dibaj to Radkan is very tough. Better start in Kordkuy.
If all goes perfectly, a return trip from Kordkuy to Mil-e Radkan is just about possible
in four hours. Seven hours will be more realistic if transporting an assortment of hitchhik-
ing villagers and their livestock to their diverse destinations en route (an ideal way to visit
the valley villages). Forget the trip altogether after snow or heavy rain. To find a suitably
sturdy 4WD (preferably with food supplies, snow chains and a shovel packed for eventu-
alities), head to the second meydan (town square) south of Kordkuy's central Shahrdari
Sq. Getting a shared place on an overloaded early-morning Toyota truck from here is the
cheapest way into the Radkan Valley villages. To charter, ask around the surrounding mar-
ket for a Kordkuy resident who has both 4WD and family in the valley. We've previously