Meybod

Meybod

About 52km north of  Yazd, Meybod is a sprawling mud-brick town that is at least 1800 years old. Several sites of interest are dotted around the town centre, chief of which is the town’s ancient fortress. Those on a whirlwind tour are rushed round the sights in under an hour but the characterful town deserves a more leisurely visit.

Sights

• Narin Castle

In the centre of Meybod, crumbling Narin castle rises imposingly above the town that has grown up around it. Revealing three layers of construction, the oldest foundations suggest some kind of settlement was built here as early as 4000 BC. Legend has it that the castle belonged to King Solomon and was built by jinns (spirits), but what-ever the original provenance of the castle’s foundations, most of what can be seen to-day dates from the Sassanian era.

• Meybod Yakhchal

Recent-ly restored, this magnificent 400-year-old structure (one of the most impressive ice-houses in Iran) dominates the north-facing part of the street, opposite the former post-house and caravanserai. The enormous, meticulously built mud and brick structure consists of two shallow icing ponds where water freezes in winter, tall 2m-thick walls that prevent the sun reaching the icing ponds, a pit for the storage of the ice from the ponds and a dome to shelter the ice from summer heat.

• Pigeon Tower

Despite first impressions, this beautifully restored tower was not military in purpose but dedicated to something altogether more prosaic: it is a pigeon house, a giant roost for the collection of guano. Used for fertilizer, the guano was a precious commodity before the introduction of chemical equivalents, so the more pigeons that could be induced to take up residence the better. This particular example, with its fine brick work, is around 200 years old and provided nesting space for 4000 birds.

• Zeilo Museum

Housed within Meybod’s old caravanserai, the Zeilo Museum is dedicated to the hand-looming of prayer rugs. Some fine examples date back to the 16th century and it is possible to see how they are made in the workshops occupying some of the former caravanserai lodgings. The cotton kilims are double-sided and many feature the cypress tree. Only a dozen zeilo masters still work at this ancient craft and prices for each piece vary according to the complexity of the design.

Zein-o-din

The sole reason for travelling out this lone-some spot is to visit the 400-year-old Caravanserai Zein-o-din built on the orders of Shah Abbas I. Located two days’ camel ride south of Yazd (around 60km) on the main road to Kerman in an otherwise vacant desert plain, the caravanserai was part of a network of 999 such hostels built to promote trade.

After a three-year renovation, during which 13,000 pumice stones were used to scour centuries of grime from the walls, this simple accommodation has been pared back almost to its original state. The carpeted platforms that function as rooms are screened from the corridor by curtains. The welcome is somewhat hit-or-miss but the food is good, with hot and cold buffets. Reservations are essential.

Zein-o-din’s claim to fame is that it is one of only two circular caravanserais (the other, near Esfahan, is largely destroyed). It continues to function as a traveller’s lodge, and for those with the imagination to muster days of yore with camels grumbling outside the door, a night’s stay here offers a haunting glimpse of a caravan traders’ life on the Silk Road.

The caravanserai’s isolated location also ensures minimal light pollution at night, allowing for crystal-clear stargazing. The skies are clearest in winter but it’s freezing.