Nearby

Tabriz

most populated city in northwest Iran

38.070846.30119

we will see

Kandovan, Osku

Iran
Located 50 km south of Tabriz, this village is famous because of man-made cliff dwellings which are still inhabited excavated inside volcanic rocks in foot hills of Mount Sahan. It is similar to dwellings in Cappadocia, Turkey. Great for both the odd beauty of the place and to see the daily life of an Iranian village. Women in printed chadors can go outside and playing kids are all around. Resistant walking shoes are mandatory if you want to climb up the village. A river passes through the valley, with a number of natural springs to the north of the river. Natural cones, scattered over a vast area, serve as human dwellings on rock formations which themselves seem to have been the work of sculptors. The road from Tabriz goes through this natural artwork. Large families live inside two or three of these hollow interconnected cones with features such as openings on their surface as windows. The lowest cones are used as stables and those on top as the living quarters. The interiors of the dwellings, usually divided into a living and a bed room, are dimly lit; however, the villagers are used to it. The interconnecting corridors are very narrow. From the outside, the dwellings look so similar to each other that one may easily get lost in the village. Steep pathways and steps are made of rock pieces for animals as well as human beings. As the legend goes, the first people to settle here were the soldiers involved in military operations nearly 800 years ago, who found the cones by chance and used them as their temporary camouflage and accommodation. However, among archaeologists, it is considered to be of Pre-Islamic Period.