This is the picture of Rood khan fort situated 20 kms southeast of Fooman city in Gilan province of Iran. This is one of my favorite forts in Iran because of several reasons ,first in order to get to the fort itself you have to walk and climb through a beautiful jungle (see my last photo) for 2 hours and there is a trail which makes climbing easier ,so even people who are relatively fit but are not hard core trekkers can easily reach the fort but it keeps the cars and unappreciative casual tourist out of the picture.Secondly, the fort is in amazingly good shape compared to other forts in Iran and the reason for that is the remoteness and inaccessibility of it specially in olden days without the present modern day equipments, I am not a military expert but when I saw the fort for the first time it was hard for me to imagine any force however mighty can overcome the natural as well as manmade obstacles and capture the fort, anyway It must be seen to believe it .

Thirdly it appeals both to nature lovers as well as people who love history and historical monuments.Fourthly because the fort is situated in a thick jungle area ,the parts that have not been restored has undergone degradation and somehow become a part of jungle in a very strange and interesting way (not seen in this picture because the part shown in picture has undergone restoration)

Here are some facts for those of you who are interested in this historic site.
-The area is about 6 acres -the fort is in shape of figure 8 
-the difference in altitude of its lowest point and highest point is 100 meters 
-the part seen in the picture is the troop's dormitories which has undergone restoration-it is about 900 years old-it has never been captured by the enemy

Roodkhan ( Rudkhan ) Fortress,, located in Fooman forests north of Iran, is built on two tips of a mountain, at elevations of 715 and 670 meters. A natural spring flows from one tip down the foothills. There are 65 towers, 42 of these still stand intact, and 1500 meters of fortifying wall encircling an area of 2.6 hectares. Its architects had benefited from natural mountainous features in the construction of the fort. The castle had two sections: one administrative and the other military, which housed a garrison. Experts believe existing castle dates back to Seljuk era (1037-1187 AD), however there are evidences of Sassanid architecture (226-651 AD) in the castle.

After crossing mountainous winding pavements through dense and very beautiful rainforests, the first thing that the traveler discovers at elevation of 670+ meters is the castle's big entrance gate.Among the interesting features of Roodkhan fortress are the various vaults, brick layers and geometric works of masonry which demonstrate the skills of the architects some 1000 years ago. 
An step paved passage, passing through spectacular intact forest, taking about 2 houres to climb, is the only accessing way to the castle.