Our stay at Kerman was just one night as we made our way eastwards. Strong winds and heavy rains provided us with an unforgettable experience, driving through the desert.

We originally planned to drive from Yazd to Zahedan in one day. It is certainly possible, if you want to skip everything on the way but since the weather was much more pleasant in this part of Iran, we were taking the luxury of a couple more stops without adding to the total distance yet to be covered. After Kerman, we decided to make a stop in Bam.

The road itself is pretty amazing (decent enough surface for such a remote area) through beautiful landscape and then we were greeted by some crazy play of wind and clouds.

By sheer chance, we happened accross a side road that seemed to be leading to heaven. So we stopped to take some photos.

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The abandoned building looked like it served as living space for the construction workers that built these highways, long time ago.

As we arrived in Bam, we headed straight for the citadel.

It is world’s largest adobe (made of earth & organic materials) building and originates from the 4th to 6th century B.C. Many expansions and improvements came along afterwards but the strategic position of Bam on an oasis, intersecting two important historic trade routes meant that this was a city of vital importance, no matter who ruled the land. The huge fortress covers all of the citadel including markets, garrisons, gov. offices, palace and places of worship for multiple religions… all were protected by huge walls and the fact that any invading army could not only be spotted from a far distance, they were at the mercy of the desert elements while the citadel had access to ground water.

This grand building had survived all these centuries, wars and all, but the 2003 earthquake that cost 20,000 lives in Bam alone, did not spare this UNESCO World Cultural Heritage either. Whole large sections of the citadel and the fortress collapsed. The recovery operation has been underway ever since but it is feared that many parts may never be restored as the damage has been catastrophic and it’s a race against time, keeping the delicate materials in place.

Nevertheless, local teams, with assistance from UNESCO have done a remarkable job in restoring whatever they could and it is once again open for public. If you are in the area, do visit and marvel not only in the engineering marvel itself, but also the spectacular sights from it’s many vantage points, stretching into miles and miles.

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Just as we were leaving the citadel, heavy rain returned and we were more than happy to retreat to the hotel with some takeaway dinner. Our hotel in Bam was, Parsian Bam Hotel (€45 for a room and breakfast). The staff were very helpful but the hotel itself had clearly seen much better days. It must have been quite a place before the 2003 catastrophe affected pretty much every life in the region and essentially brought the tourism to standstill.

This was a day well spent. The next day, we drove to Zahedan and the Pakistan border crossing at Mirjaveh was now less than an hour’s drive from there.

We arrived in Zahedan in the early afternoon and the first thing we did was queue for fuel. Because that’s what everyone seemed to be doing. The last thing we could need was running out of fuel on a secluded section of the highway, in the middle of the desert.

We debated if we should cross into Pakistan on the same day as there was plenty of time to get to the border but eventually decided against it as we had no idea what possibilities existed to spend the night in Taftan, the first town over the border. We certainly couldn’t find a hotel online.

The plan was to start early and reach the border as the day shift comes to work around 8 am. It’d allow us to clear the formalities and drive on wards to Quetta for our first overnight stay in Pakistan on the same day.

Our hotel in Zahedan was, Grand Esteghlal Hotel (€55 per night). It was the shabbiest hotel on our journey and had clearly seen better days. We were happy enough to have a rest and sort out our packing before an early start and a potentially long border crossing.

I leave you with Mr. Dean Martin’s song with the same title as this post.