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February 29, 2012

A Visit to Bam, Iran

Mud Town, Bam, Iran

During our trip from London to Kathmandu we traveled through Iran. One of our stops was the town of Bam. This is the old mud town, which was fascinating. We arrived about half an hour before closing, so it was a hurried visit, but we were the only tourists around.

Most of the village was intact. I’d never seen anything like it before with the high wall surrounding the buildings, the round towers and the maze of buildings inside. The town sat on a hill. We raced to the highest point and looked out over the entire town. The setting sun made the mud bricks glow in an incredibly rich color. It was beautiful.

Tragically an earthquake struck the town of Bam a few years ago, and much of the town was badly damaged.

13 Comments

  1. DebraG

    I would have loved to see this. It looks amazing

    • Shelley Munro

      It really was a magical place, and the visit has stayed with me all these years.

  2. Mary Kirkland

    The picture looks so amazing. it’s awesome that who over did the building was able to get so much detail into it. That’s really tragic about the earthquake.

    • Shelley Munro

      Yes, the earthquake was terrible. A lot of people died in the quake.

  3. Savannah Chase

    Wow, this would be amazing to see in person…

    • Shelley Munro

      It was! Oh, and I forgot to mention. Those black-robed figures in the photo? That’s me and our friends. We had to cover up like the local ladies.

  4. Jenny Schwartz

    I remember the Bam quake on the news. Devastating. But what a place! Thanks for the photo, Shelley :)

    • Shelley Munro

      It was such a unique place. I imagine much of it would have been destroyed.

  5. Ciara Knight

    That is so sad. I wish I could have seen it in tact.

    • Shelley Munro

      Thanks for stopping by, Ciarra :)

  6. Kaye Manro

    I love this! It reminds me of a medieval world. The crusades come to mind when I look at this.
    Thanks for sharing, Shelley.

    • Shelley Munro

      That’s exactly what it reminded me of. We did actually visit one of the old crusade castles in Syria. I’ll post a photo when I find them.

  7. Heather

    Now that looks like a cool place to visit. Love the intricate designs visable on the front tower. Very sad to think of it destroyed.