We drove up a 6-kilometer-long sneaky road from Al Hamra to a unique mountainous village located 1,000 m above sea level on the mountain foothills of the Hajar Mountains. We parked near the campground before the village and walked around ancient stone buildings, half buried in a thick...
We spent a few days during our “expedition break” in Mosty u Jablunkova in the Moravian-Silesian Region, about 46 km southeast of Ostrava. It lies in the Jablunkov Pass of the Beskydy Mountains in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia on the border with Slovakia. The...
Halabja is a very ancient town, dating back to the Lullubis era. The ancient city of Khar Khar (2000 BC) is believed to be today’s Halabja. In 641, the Islamic Army freed the town from the Sassanid Empire and became a part of the Muslim Empire. During the Abbasid Caliphate, between...
We made a short stop in the small town of Byara in eastern Kurdistan, located on the Iran border. The Byara district is a nature haven with waterfalls and picturesque mountain peaks. In Byara are many ancient shrines and well-known Madrasa (Islamic school) from which many renowned Islamic...
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 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...
The city’s history of Rawanduz dates back to the seventh century BC and boasts several Christian villages and archaeological sites. Surrounded by majestic mountains, Rawanduz is home to the deepest gorge in the Middle East. Flanked by vertiginous rock walls, the Rawanduz River snakes its...
Our drive through Eastern Kurdistan.
We spent two nights in the breathtakingly beautiful little historic town of Akre. The town was built on the side of a mountain range at the edge of the Nineveh Plains by the Kurdish Prince Zand in 580 BC. It was traditionally a mixed town of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Nowadays, Akre...