It is Easter. During breakfast I give everyone two small candles in the shape of Easter chicks. I brought them especially for Easter. Today I won’t wear my long raincoat anymore. My niece Golnoosh lends me a long gray checkered tunic kind of blouse and a long shawl of soft cotton, which I loosely drape over my head. The dresscode is more relaxed in this area, she assures me. The blouse is comfortable and I feel a whole lot better in it than in my raincoat. We go to the historical citadel of Bam in a hired van. Bam is about 130 miles south of Kerman. There are 10 of us, Farhad with his family, his sister-in-law with a son, the two of us, and Mr & Mrs P. The road takes us first past the snowcapped mountains outside Kerman and in the end past the green date plantations of modern Bam. Then we stand in front of the big door in the mud-built wall around the Bam citadel. We hire a guide who explains in rapid Farsi what we are seeing in this historical walled city. Fortunately Roshanak and Golnoosh translate for me. The citadel of Bam is very large and consists of four parts. The lowest and biggest part was the area for residents and merchants. This part is almost entirely in ruins. Behind the next ring of walls were the stables and soldiers’ barracks. Further up, behind another, higher wall lived the officers. Finally, behind yet another, even higher wall, lived the governor on top of a hill. The governor’s mansion rises impressively above all other parts of the ancient city. Bam is very old. The walled city was built more than 2000 years ago and part of it was inhabited until the 1960’s. Everything is made from mud and clay. Bricks from mud, baked in the sun, fastened to each other with mud and covered with a thick layer of a mud-straw mixture. This way, the summer heat and the winter cold were kept outside.

Thinking that the spectacular sights of Bam were not enough for today yet, Farhad asks the driver to stop at the Bagh-e Shazdeh, de Prince garden, half an hour outside Kerman. This place looks magical in the setting sun. Situated on a gentle slope with terrace-shaped ponds and waterfalls in front of it, and surrounded by tall cypresses. We drink tea and smoke a water pipe and when we leave night has fallen and the garden is beautifully lit.