Emulating many thousands of pilgrims before me, I walked the final 20km into Mashhad, from the hill where the golden dome of the Shrine could traditionally first be seen. With Mashhad now a sprawling metropolis, this is my first view of the golden dome.
Shah Abbas probably walked over the Elburz Mountains between Nishapur and Mashhad in 1601. In November, when Abbas walked, it is very cold up on the heights; with hoar frost on the grass even at midday, as shown here.
This Shah Abbasi caravanserai in Nishapur (1141km from Isfahan) has recently been transformed into a craft and shopping centre. Abbas himself is more likely to have lodged in the citadel or perhaps a private house when he passed in 1601.
This internal view of Kalidar caravanserai (1087km from Isfahan) illustrates its unusual octagonal shape. It was probably constructed after the reign of Shah Abbas. When I visited, I climbed right over the building to get to the main entrance.
This satellite image shows the remains of the unusual octagonal caravanserai in Kalidar (1087 km from Isfahan). [SA2.21]
The remains of multi-storey buildings in Zafaraniyya, in the now-derelict Ribat-i Do Dar (literally, ‘the fort with two doors’: 1070km from Isfahan) are shown here. The site measures 90m by 110m – so would have been large enough to need, and to be able to defend, two ‘doors’.
This is the ‘golden’ Seljuk caravanserai of Zafaraniyya. Ferrier reports that this superb building was traditionally described as having 1700 rooms within its walls, also baths, a mosque, and handsome gardens. Despite all this, Shah Abbas is reported to have stayed in the localribat (fort).
This satellite image of Zafaraniyya shows how the road has probably moved northwards in modern times: previously, the Seljuk caravanserai faced onto it. Down through the village is the proposed site of the Ribat-i Do Dar (1070km from Isfahan). [SA2.18]
This caravanserai in Mazinan village (937km from Isfahan) is undated but is likely to have been constructed after the reign of Shah Abbas. Unusually, it has a hamam inside and is fronted by a very substantial abambar (covered water-tank) which even has two small badgirs(windcatchers) to cool the water reserve.
Just outside Mazinan (937km from Isfahan), these two caravanserais face each other across the modern road: showing how the highroad here has not moved in hundreds of years.