If you look up the travel advisory of the US and the UK for Iraq, you will find the below:
The US:
Do Not Travel. Updated to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and eligible family members. Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens.
The UK:
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against all travel to all provinces of Iraq except the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and against all but essential travel to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Yet, here I was, trying to visit every country in the world. And so, naturally, I look for travel advice elsewhere – fellow big travelers and travel bloggers who have been on the ground and usually have something else to report.
I was so happy to have come across Diana’s blog and fell in love with her pictures and descriptions about the places she had visited in Iraq as a solo woman traveler.
I bought my flight tickets within the hour whilst in a train to Copenhagen from Hvide Sande after Christmas in December 2022, on the way to Tromsø where we saw the northern lights and orcas in the wild, when realising I had time to myself for 5 days in March 2023 upon returning from Japan.
Yes, I usually think about/plan/book future trips while I’m traveling. For instance, I booked my flights to Nepal and Bhutan (Oct 2022) whilst I was in Guinea-Bissau (July 2022) and got my flights to Moldova (May 1st 2024) on the way to the Zurich airport to catch a flight to London (Nov 15th 2023).
The Facebook Group Iraqi Travellers Café was a godsend. I reached out to some locals and miraculously found the kindest, most generous, intelligent Iraqi man called Faez, who made a world of difference to our experience in Iraq.
Here are some of the places we visited:
Baghdad – capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo, located on the Tigris river.
Karbala – best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, or for the shrines of Hussain and Al Abbas, is considered a holy city for Shia Muslims.
Najaf – widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam and one of its spiritual capitals, whilst also remaining the center of Shia political power in Iraq. It is reputedly the burial place of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, Prophet Muhammad’s son in law and cousin, and the location of the largest cemetery in the world.
Ziggurat of Ur – best preserved Mesopotamian ziggurat, an ascending moon temple, used for a spiritual connection with the gods, a gateway from heaven to earth.
The Mesopotamian Marshes in Nasiriyah – one of the most extensive wetland ecosystems in western Eurasia comprising a complex of interconnected, shallow, freshwater lakes, marshes and seasonally inundated floodplains following the lower courses of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, extending from Baghdad in the north to the Basrah region in the south.
Babylon – the capital of southern Mesopotamia from the early 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium BCE and capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, when it was at the height of its splendour, home of the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the Ancient Wonders of the World).
Side Story:
I was in al-Khalil (also known as Hebron) in Palestine, January 2023, visiting the Ibrahimi Mosque (also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs), the world’s oldest sacred building still used today in a practically continuous manner. It is believed to hold the remains of the Prophet Abraham, his wife Sarah, their son Isaac and grandson Jacob and their wives Rebecca and Leah.
There I learnt that Abraham was originally from Ur, Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) and that was how I learnt about the Ziggurat of Ur which I visited two months later.
How did I plan this trip?
I had an idea of what I wanted to do and see before going but wasn’t quite sure how I would get from one point to another.
Luckily Ulrik came on this trip to Iraq with me, which meant that it wasn’t as costly to rent a car for the two of us on some of the days.
I booked a hotel in Najaf as we were ten minutes away from entering the city from Karbala. We took a cab to the “garage” (where all the taxis and buses were) and negotiated for a car down south to the Ziggurat of Ur and the marshes on one day, and to Babylon and back to Baghdad on another day.
Some Impressions and Highlights:
The Legendary Bakery on the highway just south of Baghdad
If you’re not with a local, there is no way you would know about this institution. To call it a bakery is a massive simplification of this masterpiece of architecture and delicacy in it.
There was everything from bread to all kinds of sweets like bakhlava, savoury snacks like pizza, etc.
The best part of it all was they would give you so many little things to taste that we left with a full stomach! This was also the case in the souks/bazaars in Najaf.
The generosity of the Iraqis is like nothing I have experienced. It was not like that in Palestine nor Iran for instance.
The amount of people in Karbala and the gorgeous Shrines
I have never been in shrines and mosques more beautiful than the ones I have been to in Iraq.
I was also incredibly shocked by the number of pilgrims that were there even at midnight – including young children.
Faez also explained to us about the different turbans some of the men were wearing meaning that some are direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
A free haircut in Najaf
Karbala and Najaf are two religious cities where I was told I must always wear the abaya. I managed to buy an abaya at the bazaar in Baghdad on Day One.
I was incredibly surprised by the atmosphere of Najaf at night. People were out and about, sitting, eating, and enjoying coffee in the many cafes in the city. It was completely not what I would have imagined a religious city like Najaf to be.
Anyway, Faez had mentioned to us we should try Mandi – the Yemeni dish. Thanks to my ability to read the Quran, I could read the names of restaurants on Google Maps in Arabic, and we had a delicious Yemeni dinner on one night.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw a barber and Ulrik thought it would be fun to get a haircut. It was around midnight by then, but the city was very much alive.
We were offered tea and some sweets while he was getting his haircut. The owner asked where we were from and when Ulrik answered he was from Denmark, he got all excited and said he had just returned from Sweden where he had lived for twenty years and started to speak Swedish with Ulrik.
I could scarcely believe what was going on in front of me. Here I was in the religious city of Najaf, in the middle of Iraq, at midnight, sipping hot tea and witnessing two men conversing in Danish and Swedish.
The best part of it all was when he refused to take Ulrik’s money and said the haircut was on the house.
I was sure my life would end
After an eventful long day visiting the Ziggurat of Ur, and a boat ride in the Mesopotamian marshes, we found ourselves in the back of this beautiful car that was speeding at 180-190 km/h. The driver thought it was fun to race in the pitch-black night in southern Iraq.
It was scary. I was fearful for my life. I texted my ex-husband Peter to say, thank you for everything and please take good care of the kids on my behalf in case I die tonight.
As the driver did not speak a single word of English, you can imagine what it was like for us to try to get him to slow down and stop engaging with this other crazy driver/car. In an attempt to stay alive, I told him I needed to use the toilet so he would make a stop, and hopefully that would be the end of the crazy car race.
Lo and behold, the crazy car, stopped right next to us at the highway rest area. And suddenly we saw the two drivers talking. They were FRIENDS!!! They were racing for fun!
I look Sumerian
The only time I saw a white person other than Ulrik was at the copper market in the bazaar in Baghdad. Otherwise, he was the only white person I saw on the entire trip.
Ulrik’s white skin and blond hair made him a popular attraction everywhere we went. Men constantly went up to him to ask for a selfie. I was a complete shadow next to him. No one cared about me and my brown skin.
Until we got to Babylon. I was so surprised when one of the guards asked if he could take a picture with me. My guide later told me that they both thought that I looked Sumerian.
I shall add that to my list. I have been told I look like I am from the Philippines, Hawaii, Thailand, Indonesia, Andalusia (by Moroccans), Quechua (South American Indian), Bolivian and more.
We had a private tour of Saddam Hussein’s palace
Apparently, Saddam Hussein had hundreds of palaces around Iraq and the one in Babylon is the palace that many people visit due to its proximity to one of the seven Ancient Wonders of the World.
Our guide in Babylon loved us for some reason, and as he used to work as a guard at Saddam Hussein’s palace decades ago, he knew everyone there and managed to get the guards to let our cab driver drive us all the way up to the palace. (No cars are allowed yet ours was, and the driver was blasting such loud music on the drive up. It was quite something.)
When we arrived, our guide went straight to the guard of the palace, who then got up and took us to a part of the palace that was closed off. He physically moved these huge boards that closed off the entrance to the precarious staircase without rails and our guide took us upstairs to see the rest of the palace that was closed off to the general public.
What a sight it was. A grand room with beautiful decorations on the ceiling looking out to the Euphrates river.
We also saw two giant ant-like hills in the distance. Our guide told us that Saddam had planned to build a casino and a hotel on the other two mounts that were the same height as his palace. His idea was to connect the three with cable cars. Alas, the Kuwait War ensued and his plan never materialised.
Taxi Drivers FIGHTING over us
We were back to the Taxi Terminal where people were shouting out names of different towns as destinations. We were keen to find a driver of our own for the day as we wanted to make a stop in Babylon before heading back north to Baghdad on our final day.
I had asked the driver if we could make a stop at Prophet Ayyub’s shrine on the way to Babylon, and he had said yes.
As our car was leaving, a group of people stopped it. I soon realised that the Baghdad taxi drivers were fighting with the Babylon taxi drivers over us. The Baghdad ones were saying that we should be their customers as Baghdad was our final destination.
In the end, the one person who could speak English who had assisted us with finding our driver at the start came back to me and asked me – What is the first stop you asked for?
When I answered, Prophet Ayyub’s Shrine, the commotion was settled. That was on the route of the Babylon drivers, and so our driver was finally allowed to leave.
I remember the story of Prophet Ayyub and his admirable patience and faith in God despite years of illnesses and multitudes of inflictions. To have randomly come across a website that said it is one of the stops one can do when visiting Babylon, just 5km north of the city of Hillah, made me very happy as I was able to visit yet another Prophet’s shrine.
Conclusion
It is a shame that people are so fearful of traveling to Iraq especially as it is one of the best travels I’ve ever done. The people, the sights, the food, have been nothing but terrific. I cannot recommend it enough.
