TEHRAN – Domestic vacationers made almost 14 million overnight stays in the northern province of Mazandaran during the two-week Noruz holidays (started March 21), the provincial tourism chief has said.   

A total of 13,943,937 Noruz trippers made overnight stays during the holidays at authorized accommodation centers such as hotels, motels, tourist complexes, guest houses, and eco-lodge unites, IRNA quoted Mehdi Izadi as saying on Sunday. 

Some 3.9 million visitors also toured the province’s tourist attractions, historical sites, and natural sights during the mentioned period, the official added. 

Sandwiched between the towering Alborz mountain range and the Caspian Sea, Mazandaran has a rich yet turbulent history. An early civilization flourished at the beginning of the first millennium BC in Mazandaran (Tabarestan).

Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed. It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation. The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty.

The northern section of the region consists of lowland alongside the Caspian and upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. Marshy backlands dominate the coastal plain, and extensive gravel fans fringe the mountains. The climate is permanently subtropical and humid, with very hot summers.

ABU/AFM