Zereshk (زرشک) (Barberry in English) is a village near Qazvin province, in a district called West Iqbal. In 2006 it had only 190 habitats and 53 families while in 2017, only 73 people lived there. The locals call it the roof of Qazvin, where you can see the whole city below your feet. It is close to a defile, called Gadook. The people speak a type of Tati language, a Western Iranian language, very different from Persian.
Zereshk is a mountainous area, always cold or cool, and covered with snow most of the year. Its name always comes with another village only 5 kilometers far from it, called Kaman (کامان). They are considered the first villages of Alamout (الموت) area, a city that is famous not only for its mountains and castles but also for its rich history. Together Kaman and Zereshk make a famous tourist attractions in the province.
Besides the cabins you can take to move over the mountains, the lifestyle and nature are also very interesting. In late summer the fall begins and on the first days of fall, you see thousands of colors on the trees. In the summer villagers dry different types of fruit for their winter. The way from the city to this village takes 17 kilometers, all steep. But as you climb the road you see the mountains go below your feet one after the other. You see other villages hidden in the far mountain just below your feet.
The road that takes you to this village is locally called Bahram Abad. The name shows at the end of this road you will see a village with the same name, Bahram Abad. I am going to take you to this village and a city near it called Razmiyan, as soon as the winter is over and we can take the roads with or without cars. My husband and I took this road several times by foot, from Qazvin to Zereshk (about 17 kilometers) and once from Zereshk to Razmiyan, about 34 kilometers.
What we faced the first time going there was unbelievable! We smelt rice first and when we looked, we saw the rice fields all down the mountain. This is the second time I talk about Alamout, so we will definitely go through the roads and castles of Alamout. But let’s start with Zereshk and learn beyond Persian.
To visit Iranian people and learn about their culture and nature follow THIS LINK.
To learn Persian grammar, here you can find lessons on Persian Grammar.
Are you interested in learning Persian with music, HERE is where you can find many slow Persian songs with their lyrics.
Practice Dubbing the characters in Persian series HERE.
Listen to famous speeches from Iranian political figures, and learn about their mindset and a little bit of history through their talk HERE.
Listen to Persian podcasts in simple Persian HERE
