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Published: October 14th 2009
Restaurant in Zanjan
The man makes the breadEver experienced an extremely cold night before? Well, wouldn't you know.. I had that experience when I was in Zanjan, in the northern part of Iran. When I say cold, I mean cold. Like freezing cold. Like the moment you spill water on the road, it instantly freezes. No, I am not kidding. It was about -13 deg C in Zanjan that night, and apparently, the next morning, I found out that it was the coldest place in Iran. How rad is that?! I was in the coldest place in Iran, really a lifetime-changing moment. Ok, now let's not rattle on how it's life-changing, but let's focus on what we have there, alright?
The Zanjan hotel that we stayed in (I can't recall the name of the hotel, but I do know that the hotel is fabulous) was located quite a distance from civilisation. It was actually opposite a road with a roundabout, and when I look out the window, I saw hills and mountains and forests. No, it's not in the middle of a forest. I'd like to think of this hotel as like a 'stopover' hotel, you know, you need a place to live in for the night,
Restaurant in Zanjan
And puts it in his 'oven' and you find one, and you sleep in it. Ah, the name's Zanjan Grand Hotel. Really lives up to its name, trust me. So you might wanna consider that on your next trip to Iran.
We didn't do much in Zanjan because it was actually on our way to Tabriz (yes, where Kandovan is!), and before Zanjan, we stopped by Hamedan for a night. Here, we visited the tomb of Ibn Sina, you know, that Muslim scholar who discovered cures to diseases by using herbs and all. It was interesting to visit his tomb, or mausoleum, as they would rather call it. As a Muslim myself, needless to say, I was very proud of this man who actually made his discoveries. I shan't delve into details, because it can get rather sensitive and I would go to all lengths to avoid misunderstandings. Yes, I am not a very confrontational person, as you can probably tell. Oh, climb up to the highest level and you will get an awesome view of the mountains and the roads in Hamedan. You can see pretty little gardens, but there weren't any flowers, cos it's winter and the plants and flowers decided to die
during this season, so yeah.
After feeding my brains with some history on medicine, I went on to see the Ganj Nameh inscriptions. Okay, sounds complicated, right? Well, actually it is. Pardon me, but I didn't really pay attention to what Uncle Amin was saying because I think the idea is too heavy and all, and I would much prefer to soak in my surroundings, hehe. They had these inscriptions on the rocks, but hell I can't recall what they were saying. I think it was written by a king, don't know which one, but y'all should check it out. Google it, if you must. The waterfall, though, was an awesome sight! It was frozen. Well get this. My cousin tried to step on the waterfall, and he thought that the water must have been frozen for quite a while, when the moment he stepped on it, the ice cracked! Imagine the horror of soaking your pants in the cold freezing water! Must have been quite an adventure, aye? Luckily for him, there's some spare clothing in the bus, so he had to change his clothes, but had to endure the cold shoes. Serves him right!
Soltanieh is
Ibn Sina's tomb
His collection of works that took up an entire room also worth a visit. It is still in construction, the dome, I mean. But if I am not mistaken, it's been touted as one of the man-made heritage wonders of the world. It must be because of all the calligraphy inscripted on the walls. You can read the inscriptions (if you can read arabic letters) if you like. Anyway, it's like a playground in there. You can climb up the spiral staircases and then play hide and seek and go up to the roof and admire the view and all. Amazing.
Well, that's it, folks!
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