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Mazandaran is the eleventh largest province in Iran. It is situated in the south of the Caspian sea and north of Alborz mountain range.
Mazandaran Province :
Mazandaran Province is located between the latitudes 35-47 and 38-05 N. and
longitudes 50-34 and 56-14 E. It is bounded on the north by the Caspian Sea
--which itself shares border with Russia, Kazakistan, Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan --on the east by Khorasan , on the south by Semnan Province and
Tehran Province and on the west by Gilan province. On the North-west, Mazandaran
Province has border with the Turkmenistan .
Its area is 46,645 square kilometers. According to the 1995 divisions, the
province has 19 counties, 51 towns, 49 rural districts and 142 villages. The
provincial counties are:
Sari, Amol, Babol, Babolsar, Qaem Shahr, Behshahr, Mahmud Abad, Bandar-e-Torkaman,
Ton-e-kabon, Ramsar, Savad Kuh, Ali Abad, Kordkuy, Gorgan, Gonbad Kavus, Minu
Dasht, Noor, Now-Shahr and Neka.
Mazandaran is less wet than Gilan (38 inches at Babol, 25 at Qaem-shahr) and was
settled earlier, probably because the forests were less dense and the climate
slightly less unhealthy.
In any case, whereas Gilan was still more of less uninhabited in the far-off
days of the legends of the Book of Kings, Mazandaran was mentioned there and
contained such early settlements as Sari, the ancient Sariya, the oldest
provincial capital, and Amol, which in the 8th century became the capital of the
first Moslem governors, both with origins lost in legend. There is also Babol
more than 35,000 inhabitants), known as Barfurush until a short time ago, which
was founded at the beginning of the 16th century on the ruins of the ancient
city of Mamtir.
The first two have some ancient buildings but they are not particularly
interesting.
The monuments of Sari are of no great interest to the tourist passing through
the town on his way to Gorgan.
There are a few imamzadeh the largest of which, the Imamzadeh Abbas, is in the
eastern part of the town.
Sari is a busy town surrounded with prolific gardens where rice, cotton and
sugar cane prosper.
Firdowsi called it one of the loveliest cities in Persia. For the modern
traveler, however, it holds little of interests.
Band e Pay vally
Tonekabon _ Dohezar Dareh
Babol - A village house
