| Friday | 19th | Tehran-Baghdad | |
| Saturday | 20th | Karbala | Babylon, Al-Ukhaidir |
| Sunday | 21st | Nasiriyah | Najef |
| Monday | 22nd | Basra | Ur, Chibayish |
| Tuesday | 23rd | Baghdad | Taq Kisra |
| Wednesday | 24th | Mosul | Samara |
| Thursday | 25th | Mosul-Erbil | Hatra |
Thursday 19th
I had an early start in Tehran so I could be at the airport before my flight to Baghdad.
I ordered a Snap taxi and was on my way around 0530.
I’d stupidly spent all my Riyals and so when the taxi dropped me off at the wrong terminal I was fucked.
The dodgy guy exchanging dollars wanted $100. I didn’t want to get stuck with $95 dollars worth of Riyals so had to keep looking.
Eventually I found a taxi driver who would accept dollars. I think it cost me $10 for a five minute trip, but I was sort of trapped, and running out of time, so I didn’t have much choice.
Around 0640 I finally arrived at the Salaam International Terminal.
It’s a tiny terminal, and security wasn’t as bad as I had expected, so before long I was boarding my 0910 Iran Asseman Airlines flight for Baghdad.
The flight cost me 153000IQD or about $205 and I booked it on the Sindibad App.
At 1010 I landed in Baghdad and the e-visa formalities were a breeze.
The VOA cost $80 and contrary to popular belief, they did give me change from $100.
The visa took all of 10 minutes and so, before long, I was at the Asiacell desk dropping 45,000IQD or about $65 for an unlimited data sim card.
There’s a counter nearby where you can order taxis and while I was pretty sure I was getting ripped off, I paid the 50,000IQD ($56) to be taken directly to the hotel.
I was already sort of tired and couldn’t be bothered stuffing around with finding my own way into town (plus dealing with the language barrier and trying to explain where my hotel was).
By 1130 I was at the hotel. Hotel Kasr Al Barakat is one of the hotels recommended on the various Facebook groups and while it’s a bit of a dump, the location was good and it was safe and clean(ish).
I managed to organise a reservation on Whatsapp and they charged me $US25 or about $37.
After I settled in I had a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood and up to Liberation Square and the Armenian Church before hopping in a Careem to the Martyr’s Monument.
The monument was closed for renovations when I was there, unfortunately, but I managed to get a couple of shots over the fence.
I wasn’t going to go to the National Museum but it was so hot and I was already exhausted from walking around in the sun so I hopped in another Careem and off I went. I arrived at the Museum around 1500 and was quickly impressed with how good it was.
I spent a little more than an hour at the Museum before calling another Careem to take me to the Baghdad Mall. I had a drink and a bit of a rest in the aircon before heading back to the hotel.
Once it started to cool down I pulled on my shoes and went out for a walk – exploring Abu Nuwas Park, Fidos Square and Wathiq Square.
Around midnight I arrived back at the hotel, very ready to call it a night.
Friday 20th
I had a fairly early start – ready to meet my guide, Safi, at 0730.
Around 0900 we arrived at Babylon for our tour of the ancient ruins of the city.
We spent about an hour exploring what’s left of the ancient city before continuing up the road to Saddam’s Palace. We joined another couple of tourists and started exploring the abandoned building.
When we were done, we had a quick lunch before heading up the road to our next stop.
It was 1330 before we arrived at Al-Ukhaidir Fortress which was annoyingly closed for renovations – a common theme it would appear, when travelling in the summertime.
The guides tried their hardest to sweet talk the security guides, but to no avail.
Undeterred, we took some snaps before hopping back in the car and continuing to Karbala – one of the holiest cities for Shia muslims.
We arrived at the hotel at 1530 and I dropped my stuff off before heading into town to check out the shrine. I ended up at King Hotel which was $70 a night including breakfast. The hotel was pretty modern and clean and had a decent breakfast with fab views from the restaurant.
Best of all, it was in a great location, about a five minute walk from the shrines.
It was Muharram – the first month of the Islamic calendar, and recently Ashura and the religious festival was in full swing. I found it a little confronting or confusing I should say, but there was heaps of free food and drinks and people were very kind.
I had the guides for a couple more hours, so together we went to check out the Holy Shrine of Imam Hossain.
I was pretty exhausted so after the guides left I headed back to the hotel and eventually decided to call it a night.
Saturday 21st
I had a very lazy morning – including a long breakfast at the hotel – before using the Baly App to call a taxi to take me to the Karbala Garage.
It took me about an hour and a half to get to Najaf and cost 30,000IQD ($40) for the taxi. I think it wasn’t full and they asked us if we wanted to pay for the extra seat and so we did.
I arrived around 1630.
I had a guide to show me around the Imam Ali Shrine and explain its significance to him, and the Shia population.
We had a nice, late lunch and tried some of the city’s famous sweets – Daheen.
Around 1800 I was back on the road, en route to Nasiriyah.
The taxi I was travelling in cost 100,000IRQ or about $113.
I had a bit of trouble at one of the checkpoints, but thankfully I had a couple of guides I got on the phone and they managed to sort it out.
It was 2330 before I arrived at Hammurabi Hotel.
I think the room was about $50 and it was pretty basic. The bathroom was shared and down the hall. Given it was already late I wasn’t super bothered about the hotel.
I met my next guide and we went on his motorbike for tea and shisha before returning to the hotel around 0100 to call it a night.
Sunday 22nd
I woke up early and had breakfast and a shower before meeting my guide at 0600.
We paid his mate 20,000IQD ($22) to take us to our next stop – the Great Ziggurat of Ur.
We arrived around 0644 and it was still closed. And despite Mustafa’s best efforts, the security guides wouldn’t let us in.
There was a bit of construction around the site as the government moves to make the area more tourist-friendly, and so we went to check out some of the sites there.
Finally, at 0800 we headed back to the Ziggurat. Entry was 25,000IQD ($33).
It’s obviously highly significant and worth a look, but you can’t get too close and there isn’t a great deal to see there.
We left around 0830 and grabbed a taxi to take us to Chibayish so we could see the marshes. The taxi cost another 20,000IQD ($22) and took about two hours.
Around 1030 we boarded our boat, ready to start our adventure.
It cost me 25,000IQD ($28) and while it was stiflingly hot, it was a pretty cool experience.
We were cruising for about an hour before we stopped at one of the old reed houses for lunch.
Lunch was another 25,000IQD plus 5,000IQD for the cook (?) ($33).
We spent a while relaxing and eating the Masgouf – grilled local fish – before hopping back in our boat and heading back to dry land.
It was midday before we arrived and we sorted a driver to take us to Basra.
That cost 65,000IQD ($73) with a stop at the Tree of Wisdom – about an hour away – on the way.
Around 1430 we arrived at Basra and after checking out a few hotels, we settled on Aqaba Touristic Hotel.
My room was 40,000IQD ($45) and the guide’s was 30,000IQD ($35). Rooms were pretty basic and not super clean but the location was ok. Oh, and they didn’t provide towels – a recurring occurrence in Iraq which meant for plenty of drip drying in front of the window.
We spent a few hours relaxing and recovering before heading out around 1700 to explore Basra.
We had a walk along the Shatt Al Arab before taking a tuk tuk to find somewhere for a drink.
We ended up at what can only be described as a brothel. Or at least Iraq’s answer to one. It was filled with heavily made-up middle-aged divorcees looking for love… in all the wrong places.
After an hour or so trying to escape there and my companion who “only ever wanted an Australian husband” – we went out in search of dinner. We were looking for this Yemeni place but it appeared to be closed, so I think we ended up having Indian food.
Around 2000, we went back to the waterfront to take a short boat trip.
Around 2130, we met some of the guide’s friends at a shisha bar for tea and a smoke before heading back to the hotel around 2230 to call it a night.
Monday 23rd
We had a pre-dawn start – meeting at reception at 0400 for our sunrise kayak on the Shatt Al Arab.
We walked down to the river but ended up getting a taxi to the meeting spot. Around 0445 we arrived and by 0500 the rest of the group was there too.
After a little while getting set up we were on our way, kayaking up the river as the sun rose about the city.
We were out on the water for about two hours before heading back to dry land to get ready for breakfast.
We ended up at Top Organic around 0800 and settled in for a lavish spread.
We had a great breakfast and by ten we were back in the hotel and all packed up and ready for the long trip bag to Baghdad.
The trip was about 6.5 hours and cost 25,000IQD ($28) in a shared taxi. There was a 45 minute break to stretch our legs half way.
I wanted to go to Taq Kisra (Arch of Ctesiphon) on the way but instead of dealing with my bags I decided to go to Baghdad first and come back.
I ended up finding a guide who’d take me. Luckily he lived right near the Garage and so right on 1800, he collected me and within 45 minutes we were there.
We got some snaps of the arch in the dying day’s light before climbing up onto an abandoned theatre.
We spent a couple of hours checking everything out before hopping back in the car around 2000 to head back into Baghdad.
The guide charged me about 50,000IQD ($60) which I was happy to pay to not have to stuff around with public transport. And he turned out to be a cool guy and we had lots of fun along the way.
Around 2030 we arrived at the hotel and I had a quick turnaround before meeting another guy for dinner.
He’d contacted me on Facebook wanting to meet and offered to take me to Samarra the following day.
We had a nice dinner at a famous Kebab place before heading down to the corniche to while the evening away at Al Beiruty Cafe.
Tuesday 24th
We had an early start – meeting at 6am ready for our journey to Balad – just north of Baghdad.
We arrived around 7am with a stop at the farmers’ markets to check out the local produce.
Continuing into Balad we found a little place for breakfast before taking a walk around the town.
By 8am we were back on the road – heading north to Samarra.
We arrived at Malwiya Mosque or the Great Mosque of Samarra around 0800.
While the site is officially closed we managed to gain access for a little look around.
I even managed an illicit climb half way up the minaret before the guides called me to get down.
We continued a little further up the road to Kalifa Palace – which was also closed – before heading north again, this time to Abu Dulaf.
For something so epic, it’s pretty unbelievable that this place is without security or anything. You basically just drive off the road and you’re free to explore. And unlike just about every other site in Iraq, it wasn’t closed for restoration. Not yet, anyway.
We spent an hour or so exploring, and I climbed the minaret which was much more scary than I had anticipated.
By midday I was on the road again.
My (new) friend dropped me off at a turnoff where there were (apparently) lots of taxis.
I was sort of spoiled having so many guides to help me along the way so I was sort of at a loose end.
Eventually a taxi stopped to help me. I think I paid 5000IQD (or about $6) to take me from there to the Takrit garage.
When I arrived, I discovered (or at least they told me) there was no garage, instead I was faced with a handful of taxi drivers eager to get my money.
I enlisted the help of my guide in Mosul (via the phone) to help me navigate, and eventually I ended up paying 100,000IQD ($114) for a private taxi.
I had to get him to stop at an exchange office, or several, so I could get money and by about 1400 we were on the road. There was some weird thing where they wouldn’t accept certain types of US dollars.
It took us about 2 hours and 40 minutes to do the 230km journey and so around 1700 I was at the hotel.
I ended up at Ninavah Palace Hotel at the guide’s recommendation – which is on a busy street full of restaurants, in the new part of town. The hotel was $US25 or about $37 dollars and while it was pretty old and rundown, it did the trick.
I spent a couple of hours recovering from the long, hot day before meeting another guy from one of the facebook groups for dinner.
We ended up at Spicy Chicken which hit the spot before having a bit of a driving tour of Mosul.
We went for tea along the Tigris river before finally, around 0030, calling it a night.
Wednesday 25th
Another day, another guide – today I met Moomen around 0800 ready for our trip to Hatra.
We went to buy tickets (which you have to do in Mosul) before getting on the road.
It’s about two hours away, so by 1100 we were there.
We spent about an hour checking out the site and talking to some of the staff before heading back into town for lunch.
We ended up at Swarma Land which didn’t disappoint.
After lunch we headed to see Saddam’s Mosque then to the old town.
We had a look around the bazaar before walking around some of the areas destroyed by ISIS (and efforts to rid the city of them).
It’s pretty grim, but good to see and learn more about what happened with ISIS and when allied forces moved in to clear them out.
We had a look at the Baynta Art Centre centre and its neighbouring cultural museum before finally heading to the garage to find a shared taxi to Erbil.
The shared taxi cost 10,000IQD ($15) and took about two hours.
I booked Syros Hotel on Booking.com which cost about $70 and wasn’t worth it at all.
I was tired and couldn’t really be bothered going door-to-door with my bags and so was happy just to throw money at the problem. Also the location was great – right opposite the Erbil Citadel.
The room was big and clean, but again, there were no towels.
I had a quick freshen up before heading out to check out the bazaar and citadel, and grabbing something to eat.
One of the guides told me his friend was in town, so I met him up too and we went for a couple of beers at Basili’s Pizza & More.
I was pretty exhausted after a long day (week and holiday) and so around 1130 I decided to call it ahead of my adventure around Kurdistan.