Kandovan

Below Mount Sahand, volcanic ash compacted into soft rock and erosion carved it into cones, and centuries ago villagers hollowed those cones into houses - multi-storey homes cut into the rock with windows and doors punched through, stables at the bottom, living rooms above. Kandovan is still inhabited, with perhaps a few hundred residents, which distinguishes it from the more famous but largely abandoned Cappadocian equivalents. Stairs and lanes wind between the cones, mineral water from the local spring is sold as a health remedy, and the whole village works its way up a steep valley side.

History

The cones are cut from ignimbrite - ash-flow tuff laid down by pyroclastic flows from Mount Sahand - which erosion has split into pinnacles, some 30 to 40 metres high. Nobody knows for certain when people first moved into them, and the stories differ: one has nomads using the cliffs as a summer home before settling for good, another has the people of a ruined village about two kilometres away moving here to escape Mongol raids, a third has warriors taking refuge in the rocks. The census counted 601 people in 2006 and 450 in 2016 (Wikipedia, Kandovan, Osku).

What you'll find

• The carved cone houses - inhabited homes cut into volcanic rock.
• The village lanes - stepped paths between the spires.
• The mineral spring - the local water sold for its reputed properties.
• Mount Sahand - the volcanic massif above the village.

When to go

Late spring through autumn is the accessible window; winter brings snow and cold at this altitude, which is atmospheric but hard going on the steep lanes. Weekends and Iranian holidays bring domestic visitors in numbers.

Before you go

People live here and the village receives many visitors, which has created friction - photographing homes and residents without asking is intrusive and resented. Some houses have been converted into shops and a cave hotel. Lanes are steep, uneven and slippery in wet weather. A car or taxi from Tabriz is the practical access.

Nearby

Tabriz and its bazaar, Mount Sahand and the Azerbaijani countryside.