The word pasture is the key to understanding why the Mongols came here. The Ilkhans, who ruled Persia from the thirteenth to the fourteenth century, were steppe people who kept great herds of horses and sheep, and they chose to build their capital on the plain of Soltaniyeh because it was good grass country, cool in summer and wide enough for a court on the move. The Soltaniyeh pasture is the open grassland around the dome, still grazed by flocks today, and it is part of the UNESCO listing because it is part of the historic landscape.
Standing on the pasture, you see the logic of the place. The ground is flat and carries long grass in spring, a sea of green with poppies and wild tulips here and there, and the dome stands alone on the horizon. The court would have moved between winter quarters on the warm plains and summer quarters on the high ground, in a pattern the Mongols kept for generations.
Today shepherds in felt hats and rubber boots move their flocks across the area, with dogs, and sometimes a pickup carrying water barrels. The dogs can be fierce, so keep a distance and do not walk through a flock. Motorbikes are unusual here, and you may attract curiosity, and perhaps an invitation to tea at a black tent or a farmhouse. It is a pleasure to accept, though be ready for a long conversation in half-understood Persian and a lot of hand gestures.
The roads through the pasture are earth tracks, fine when dry and sticky when wet. Fuel and food are in Abhar, thirty-four kilometres off, and in Zanjan, a little further. Best to arrive early or late in the day, when the light is low and the shadows long. Bring water, a hat and sun cream, because the plain offers no shade at all, and keep an eye on the weather, since thunderstorms in late spring can build quickly over the hills and drop hail on the plateau.