Trip report and pictures from Iraq

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this sub and don't know if this post will be allowed, as I wasn't solo but with a guide.... I did however go as a solo woman. If it's not allowed, sorry and delete!

I've just returned from a week's vacation in Iraq and wanted to do a trip report here (hopefully it'll give some people ideas!).

If you want to see some pictures, here they are: https://imgur.com/a/OyHnnJl

A little background to start with: I'm a 36F who's always been interested in history and culture, and the Middle East in particular. I've wanted to go to Iraq for years, but until recently I didn't think it was possible to go there as a tourist.

I'll tell you about the schedule, and then add a few general considerations. It's going to be a long one, so sorry for that (and for my English, this post is sponsored by DeepL!).

Day 1 / Baghdad

After a 6-hour flight and a 7-hour layover with no sleep, it was a bit of a shock to arrive in Baghdad! So many people, so many cars, so much life. We started with a stroll through the city and the old bazaar, then a visit of the Al-Mustansiriya school. We walked down the famous Al Mutanabbi street to the river, stopping to listen to young men singing in the street, having tea in the Shabandar Cafe, listening to music... Then a stop in front of the Freedom monument on the way to the hotel.

Day 2 / Babylon and Karbala

Visit Babylon: the Gate of Ishtar, the lion, the great complex and its walls... Much of it is not original but has been rebuilt (like the gate and the walls). It's beautiful and completely deserted. Nice moment too, alone in front of the supposed site of the Tower of Babel, facing a palm grove and the Euphrates, during the call to prayer in the distance. We then took a boat trip on the Euphrates, under Saddam Hussein's former palace, before visiting the palace itself.

The park beneath the palace is lovely and full of people: students having their weekly picnic, little girls on bicycles, old people and their chica, couples strolling hand in hand, families... You can easily hang out here for most of the day and do nothing.

The palace was closed, but we managed to get in thanks to my guide (I'll come back to this later). It's very impressive, beautiful architecture, completely empty except for a few details on the ceilings. Tags absolutely everywhere, apparently from all over the world. The view over the river and palm groves is breathtaking.

After that, off to Karbala and the Imam Hussein shrine. It's all made of crystal and glass, it's full of colors and reflections, it's beautiful... But I didn't particularly love it. It's an important place of pilgrimage in Shia islam, but the whole thing is just too "flashy" for my taste (I'm an atheist, so the religious aspect didn't move me). But it's still worth a visit, because it's extremely impressive!

Day 3 / Najaf

Departure for Najaf, starting with a visit to the very pretty El-Kafl mosque. Then a visit to the world's largest cemetery, home to some 7 million tombs. We climbed to the top of a large parking lot to get a bird's-eye view, but we couldn't: the tombs stretched out of sight.

Afterwards, visit the Imam Ali shrine, the fourth holiest site in Shia Islam. Or rather, attempted visit: I had a problem with the guards in the shrine and despite two attempts I couldn't get in. The second attempt proved very oppressive, as my Labello was apparently a problem. I say "apparently" because I didn't really understand what was going on, nobody was speaking English, everyone was shouting, so I didn't insist, just picked up my things as they were passed from hand to hand and got the hell out of there. After explaining to my guide what had happened, he didn't understand either. They kept my Labello though.

Finally, a tour of Najaf at night, chicha and pizza at the top of a building in the city's chic street (an incredible number of luxury cars per square meter).

Day 4 / Nasiriyah

Arrival in Uruk, the main reason for this trip, the city where writing was born and its king Gilgamesh. I don't even have the words to describe this visit. We saw the temple of Ishtar, walls made of coloured stone cones, ancient circular tombs, drains, walls still decorated and painted, traces of the passage of Alexander the Great and Latin inscriptions. As you walk along, you come across pottery fragments and pieces or whole tablets covered in cuneiform. You can touch them!! It's absolutely unreal to be able to put your finger on such an ancient piece of history, which you can normally only see in a handful of museums!

Ur: the ziggurat has been rebuilt, and it's interesting to see the demarcation lines between the new and the old. The site was closed, so it was impossible to climb to the top. It was quite astonishing and extremely impressive in size and beauty.

And to round off the day in style, a sunset boat tour of the marshes. It was so beautiful and peaceful, you feel like you're all alone in the world. We saw ibis, water buffalo and maybe a wild boar (not quite sure what it was!).

Day 5 / Baghdad

Return to Baghdad and visit the National Museum. It's very big, I was there for over 3 hours and I didn't see everything. There's incredible diversity and a crazy chronology in the remains. Among other marvels, you can see the famous Hammurabi code and lamassus in abundance.

After that, a stroll through Baghdad with the former homes of the elite under Saddam, an Armenian church, the beautiful Save Iraqi Heritage moment and a last cup of tea at the Shabandar cafe.

Day 6 / Mosul

Depart Baghdad for Mosul, stopping off at Samarra on the way. The 5-storey tower is very impressive, but we weren't able to go up because the site was closed (we got in a way that wasn't very clear, I confess).

Nearby is the Abu Dulaf mosque, identical but only three storeys high, and the whole complex can be visited. We only went up to the first level, I didn't dare go any further!

Next, a visit to the Hatra archaeological site, very large and very well preserved, and yet another example of the immense diversity to be found in Iraq. We see the first traces of Isis (bullet holes in the walls, inscriptions, decapitated statues, shell casings on the ground...).

Day Seven / Mosul

Visit the fish market in Mosul and the part destroyed by Isis. It's heartbreaking. You can still see the beauty of the architecture, some of the buildings having been built in Ottoman times.

Then visit the Masfi Mosque, built on the site of Mosul's oldest mosque, a beautiful Orthodox church and the archaeological site of Nimrud.

At first, all we see are bits of wall - the rest have been destroyed by Isis. Then we see the tell, and arrive at the excavation site, with statues and bas-reliefs being numbered. It's incredible here too, as in Uruk, you're strolling amidst such ancient, ancient remains...

After that, we headed for Baghdida, an enclave of Syrian Christians just outside Mosul. Fun to have a beer in the restaurant at lunchtime! We visited a house museum with an absolutely fascinating and passionate manager, and a filmed interview with a group of singers and dancers in traditional dress.

Finally, a tour of the Mosul Heritage Museum. Nice to see, but doesn't break the bank.

Day Eight / Erbil

Last day... Starting with the archaeological site of Nineveh: there's not much to see apart from the tell.

On the way to Erbil, visit the Mar Matti monastery at Al Qosh in the mountains. Breathtaking and incredibly peaceful. Well worth the detour.

Followed by a visit to Lalish, a holy place of Yezidism. I confess I knew nothing about this religion. You have to take off your shoes before entering the village. The people are very sympathetic and explained to us how they function and some of their beliefs. We entered underground chambers, without any light ( thanks to the torch on the telephones) where we saw tombs, chambers lined with large oil jars, underground chambers with stone arches... It was all extremely intimidating, as it was astonishing and unprecedented.

Finally, a stroll through Erbil's bazaar beneath the walls of the ancient citadel. The city is very modern and didn't make much of an impression on me, but that was probably the last day's blues...

General considerations

The trip Preparing for the trip was a bit of a haphazard affair. At first I wanted to go on my own, but I don't speak a word of Arabic and honestly I don't think my mother could have handled it ahah! So I posted on the Iraqi travellers cafe Facebook group that I was looking for a guide, and chose one of the first people to reply. I probably should have spent more time on the search, but it turned out well. I already knew what I wanted to see, so I sent the list to my guide, who made a schedule and added other sites. For the trip itself, I flew with Pegasus Airlines via Trip: I don't recommend Trip at all. I won't dwell on it, but I had a lot of problems with this airline right up to the day of my return. In my case, the journey was easy: France - Istanbul (3h) then Istanbul - Baghdad (3h).

Visa and money There's no problem with the visa: it's done in Baghdad at the airport on arrival, for around $80. It can take a while, but it was no trouble at all. As for money, I had withdrawn American dollars for my guide's pay + my "pocket money", and he took care of changing it into Iraqi dinars once I was there (note that exchange offices prefer large bills to small ones).

Accommodations and food The hotels were chosen by my guide. I had asked for a single room with bathroom and wifi, without any other indication. We changed hotels every day and it's clearly not a three-star hotel. As for the food, honestly nothing crazy, rice at every meal and mostly chicken (I don't like mutton and there's a lot of it).

Whether it's hotels or food, you shouldn't be too fussy about hygiene. Of course, I haven't been to fancy hotels and restaurants, so this is just an opinion of what I've seen! As far as the food is concerned, the dish is often shared by the whole table: there's a big plate with the rice and there or the meats, and everyone picks from it. No personal plates and rarely any cutlery, except a spoon for the rice. During the whole week, I never once saw the guides wash their hands before eating, so it can be a bit disgusting, but you soon get used to it. The bread is very good!

Safety I was accompanied by a guide and an interpreter, so my experience may vary from that of someone who went alone. But not once did I feel in danger. For reference, this year I went to Japan, Florence and London. I felt as safe in Iraq as I did in Japan, and safer than in Florence or London (because I didn't have to worry about pickpockets or anything).

The people are all extremely kind and considerate, and no one looked at me sideways or anything, even though I was always the only woman (extremely white and blonde at that), not veiled and dressed in Western style.

People looked at me a lot and asked to have their photo taken with me, but never in an oppressive or insistent way, on the contrary often in a way that was great fun for everyone. There are a lot of checkpoints on the roads, but there's no need to worry here - things often go very quickly. That was the only thing I was worried about because I went to Israel two years ago and it's normally forbidden to travel to Iraq after that. Nobody found out and everything went fine.

As for the conversation, I didn't dwell on the damage done by Isis because my interpreter was from Mosul and had to flee to live in a refugee camp, so I didn't want to be inconsiderate by asking too many questions. Apart from that, we talked about the differences between our cultures, things like homosexuality, religion, the place of women, Christmas, covid, work, leisure... We often disagreed, but always in a very cordial, non-judgmental way.

The end Overall, I loved this trip. I cried when I held 5000-year-old relics in my hands, I laughed a lot with the people, I learned a lot about this country and its culture, I was amazed by the beauty and diversity of what I saw and by the kindness of the people. I'm sure I'll go back at least once, but probably more than that. I can't wait to see how the country develops and I hope with all my heart that everything goes well.

Don't hesitate to ask me any questions you may have, or to give me your impressions if you've been there too!