We got nasty weather in the late afternoon, so we decided to stop in the mountains at a great picnic spot on our way to Sulaymaniyah. It is well hidden from the main road, with fantastic panoramic views. Unfortunately, the weather was even worse in the morning, so our drive through the...
In Erbil, we exchanged money (500 EUR / 803000 IQD) and took a diesel at our favorite North Light Oil station (1350 IQD / liter). Then we started our long scenic drive through one of the most beautiful regions of Kurdistan. We drove around Koya, surrounded by the Bawaji and Haibat Sultan...
We drove one hour with our guide Othman from @visitmosulofficial to Hatra (🎫 25000 IQD). It is a ruined city in the Al-Jazīrah region, 290 km northwest of Baghdad and 110 km southwest of Mosul. It was s religious and trading center of the Parthian empire. It flourished during the 1st and...
After some research and heavy thinking, we drove to Mosul in northwestern Iraq. From its original site on the western bank of the Tigris River, the modern city expanded to the eastern bank and now encircles the ruins of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. Probably built on the site of...
We spent a few days in Erbil, one of the most ancient cities in the world, dating back at least to 2300 BC. Erbil has long been an important trade center, and It has been inhabited, over the millennia, by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Mongols, and Ottoman Turks. It was already an ancient...
Khanzad Castle, also called Banaman Castle, is located on the road between Erbil and Shaqlawa. It was constructed during the time of the Kurdish Soran Emirate in the 16th century under the rule of Princess Khanzad and her brother Prince Suleiman Beg. For seven years, she ruled over two...
Shrine of Raban Boya It is situated in Shaqlawa at the foot of the Safeen Mountains. Christians know the cave as Rabanboya, while Muslims call it Sheikh Wso Rahman. We took a taxi to the parking (10000 IQD), and from there, we hiked for around 20 minutes the steep hill up to the cave. It...
We stopped overnight by the „touristic“ Geli Ali Beg waterfall (🎫 1000 IQD). It is the highest waterfall in the Kurdistan Region and all of Iraq. It is about 12 meters high, located beside Korek Mount, which is 2,076 meters above sea level. The waterfall is the crosspoint of three rivers:...
In 1973, President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr ordered the construction of the Erbil Observatory with three telescopes on the top of Mount Korek (2066 m). Unfortunately, the Iranian rockets launched during the Iran–Iraq War destroyed the partly-built observatories. Nowadays, you can take a 3670...
We drove the upper newly built road Nr. 3 around the original lower “Hamilton Road.” The strategic road across Southern Kurdistan to the Iranian border was constructed between 1928 and 1932 by A. M. Hamilton, the principal engineer of the British Empire. Although Hamilton...