Travel Guide Tabas

Only an agglomeration of importance to hundreds of kilometres at the round, Tabas formerly called Golchan - "The Queen of the Desert" - is located 660 m high between the Dasht-e Kavir and the Kavir-e Read. An urban oasis with a mirage and an obligatory crossing point on the road between Machhad (500 km northeast) and Yazd (400 km southwest), the city was one of the major steps on the caravanière road. It will also house the Ismaili sect before being destroyed by the Uzbeks in the th century. It has been struck several times by very violent earthquakes, including the one in September 1978, which has killed more than 25 000 people, but has never been abandoned by its inhabitants, who continue to live on the ground. The large deposits of coal operating nearby largely explain the maintenance of the population, now estimated at 56 000 souls (including suburbs).Following the destruction caused by this intense seismic activity, few sites to highlight with the exception of the beautiful Persian garden of Golshan and the ruins of Arg-e Tabas (th century). Finally note the exceptional ingenuity of the irrigation system and the softness of the beautiful fruit trees - orange, grenadiers, peach, apricot - after the furnace of the desert areas.