The Mesopotamian marshes, also called the Iraqi marshlands, are one of the most famous wetlands in the world and one of the most beautiful places in Iraq. It’s a huge swamp area located on the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, bound by the cities of Basra, Nasiriyah, Amarah...
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...
We drove 45km east of Kars to Ani ruins (🎫 50 TRY). We arrived there around 7 PM at large parking near the entrance. To our surprise, nobody was around that time, but to our luck, they left the toilets open. Ani lies east of Kars and along the Arpaçay River, which forms the border with...
Today we visited the monastery complex (unfortunately under restoration) on a wooded hillside 8km northeast of Kutaisi. It is an outstanding example of Golden Age architecture and one of Georgia’s most influential churches. Gelati was a cultural hub of Georgia’s medieval...
A rough, steep road brought us to the village Khalde located in the south of Chkhutneri ridge, in Khaldechala valley, just six kilometers from Khalde Glacier, at an altitude of 1900m above sea level. It’s a very tiny mountainous village that is not inhabited during winter. The...
Ushguli is a village community located at the foot of Mount Shkhara (5,268m) and the mouth of the rivers Enguri and Kvishiri at an altitude between 2,060 and 2,200 meters. It is considered the highest permanently inhabited place in Europe. Ushguli consists of the five villages Murkmeli...
Today we hired an off-road car (500 GEL/day) to reach remote villages hidden in Svaneti Mountains. Our first stop was the original and authentic village of Adishi, a small mountain village situated in the middle of the mountains of the Greater Caucasus – in Upper Svaneti between Ushguli...
We parked in the center of the touristic hub of the Upper Svaneti, Mestia. We used it as a base for exploration of the oldest of the hamlets dotted with picturesque Svan towers. Most towers are above the river on the northern side of town: Lekhtagi in the northwest and Lanchvali and...