Articles from this Category
24 November 2024
Nasiriyah to Najaf As we were somewhat ahead of plan, and in consideration of only a 3h ride to Najaf today, we took things easy this morning. We left our packing till this morning and left the hotel at 1015 for the garage. We made our way through traffic to the garage and waited […]
23 November 2024
Getting to Chibayish marsh Today we go to the marshes of Chibayish to see the homeland of the Marsh Arabs. We walked to the station which had cars to Chibayish and managed to get seats in a nearly-full van, which then left rather promptly around 0915. Just like in Yemen, passengers pay their fare to […]
22 November 2024
Baghdad to Nasiriyah This morning, we left Baghdad after the lifting of the two-day curfew at 0001. Bound for Nasiriyah, we arrived at the Alawi Garage at 0835 as there was plenty of information suggesting that this was the southbound garage for taxis. Unfortunately, despite corroborating different sources of information, it was the wrong garage […]
21 November 2024
Today is the second day of the census curfew. We had hoped that we could go to Taq Kisra a little outside Baghdad but it would be a monumental task compared to yesterday’s shorter trip within the city. And we would risk not be allowed to return! The second possibility was to retry the Kadhimiya […]
20 November 2024
Big effort to get there We headed out around 0940 after the hotel breakfast, initially wandering by foot to the area that sold medical and disabled equipment. My plan was to go to the Martyr’s Monument by Careem but with the census curfew on, I thought it would be wise to test the water on […]
19 November 2024
Visa on Arrival I landed on time at 0030 at Baghdad International Airport. It’s not a huge airport and I was at the Visa on Arrival counter 10 mins later completing a very simple form. The form and passport was returned about 15 mins later with a visa stuck inside. Officially, payment had been cash-only […]
17 November 2024
Tea factory and sweet shop Today I did an excursion to Uzungol, a picturesque lakeside village with the lake formed about 500 years ago due to a landslide blocking the outflow of water. The trip came with a few other inclusions. I reported to the tour office at 1000 and departed soon after. We collected […]
16 November 2024
I had opted not to do an excursion till tomorrow, due to wet weather forecast. It is good that I have a spare day. Instead, I’ll do the sights of Trabzon further from the bazaar area where I’m located. First up, I walked to the Gulbahar Hatun Mosque built in 1514. En route, I passed […]
15 November 2024
Sumela Monastery Trabzon’s highlight for me was going to be the Sumela Monastery out of town. In the late autumn season, I had read that public transport options are more difficult, so I booked a tour online with Sumelatur for TRY700 (NZD35) and came with a number of other sights. I walked to their office […]
14 November 2024
Arriving and domestic transfer in Istanbul With only 4h between meals onboard the flight from Male to Istanbul, I took only half a sleeping pill instead of a whole one. I enjoyed 2h sleep horizontally on three seats and managed to doze for a further two. Surprisingly Turkish Airlines served 2 full meals on the […]