Iraq

Beautiful Iraq and Mesopotamia.

Have you ever dreamed of visiting the country of Sheherazade? Welcome to Iraq.

I spent 3/4 days in Baghdad without any plans as i like to go with the flow. 

I have spent almost 2 weeks there for my birthday. 

I visited Baghdad, Karbala, Babylon, Ur and the Marshes after Nasiriyah. 

Since march 2021, many countries can just have visa on arrival (including the US, Canada, Europe, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China and more..)

Just make sure to check or you can ask me obviously. 

I received my visa once I landed in Baghdad, you will fill up a paper, pay 77$ (yes in dollars only), and wait for the visa to be processed. They will ask you as well which hotel you are sleeping at. 

After 1h of waiting, they gave me my visa and i was ready to leave the airport. 

Very easy and straight forward, you can change money at the change counter (don't change much as the rate is never the best at airport. Just enough to get you in a taxi!)

All the taxi have the same price when it comes to bring you to Baghdad, just get the cash, talk to anyone and they will give you a paper and provide you a taxi driver. Get in the taxi and go in your hotel. 

This was my hotel, right in the center with a little balcony. ( +/- 50eur per night with breakfast) Good room with fridge, A/C, balcony and comfy beds.

That was the view of my little balcony where i would smoke and drink beers! Fun fact, it's way easier to find beers in Baghdad then in Morocco and they have their own brewery!

Now, you will want to download the app called Careem, it is like Uber/Bolt taxi company. It is easy to use and at least you don't have to struggle to have the price of your ride. Fast and convenient. 

Next to this hotel, you can find lots of phone company as well, which can be useful to buy a sim card and be able to use internet.

In the street you can find a lot of change shops, feel free to check the rate and change your money. Very good rate better than with my app so i changed money :)

I don't know how you like to travel, but for me i love to walk without really knowing where i am going, getting lost in streets and if i am tired, well, i just order a taxi and go to another place. 

As previously said, it's easier to get around by taxi if you don't want to bother so here are the points of interest.

From this cafe you can walk towards the Martyr's bridge  and go until the next one, Ahrar Bridge. 

You will enjoy one of the biggest Bazaar of Baghdad. It's a lot, it's busy, but no one is being pushy or touchy and it is a nice place to see, especially you will see old buildings 

Feel free to walk and get lost in those streets, they are beautiful and worth seeing them. 

Very easy, just take a taxi to Alawi Garage. 

From there, you can enjoy as well the visit of Saddam Hussein's summer palace. 

Once there, you will see many people asking where you are going, for this part it would be Karbala and in less than one minute i was offered a ride to get there for 20 000 IQD ( less than 15 euros), they usually wait for the car to be full and that's it. My hotel was actually on the main road in Karbala which was convenient, so the taxi just let me there. 

This hotel was very convenient, free shuttle from the hotel to the holy city. Staff was very kind and the terrace was beautiful. 

Karbala is important as you can see the shrine of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the third Imam of Shia Islam. Beautiful place, worth seeing it.

Very useful as well, at the reception you ask for a driver to go to Babylon. 

Within a couple of hours, i was on my way to visit the famous Babylon. 

You can easily find a guide at the entrance, it's up to you to take one or not obviously but without a guide, it would be a bit useless to be honest. 

Also, Babylon is the place where you can buy alcohol if you need it on your way to the south for example. as in Karbala, there will be no alcohol, no nothing as it is a holy city. 

Get a taxi from Karbala to Ur and continue to Nasiriyah. Few choices, either you find yourself a guide that knows someone in the marshes ( trust me, it's way more common than you think) or you stop in nasiriyah and you can get a driver to bring you there the next day. 

Enjoy the day or the night and go back to Baghdad. 

Feel free to ask hotels reception for drivers, there are kind, there are no problem with controls and everything was smooth. 

Back to the airport in Baghdad! Important!! 

 You can take a taxi to the airport BUT, on your way there, you will not go to the airport directly. 

You will be stopped around 10km before the airport, you will need to use their mandatory shuttle which you need to pay CASH (10 000 iqd) once the shuttle is full, they go to the airport. You will be stopped twice with dogs checking on the car and luggages. 

After arriving at the airport, there is again some security and then you are inside and can do your check in normally. 

So keep in mind, go to the airport early at least 2h30 before your flight! Better wait there than to miss your flight.

Beautiful Iraq and Mesopotamia.

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