Aaron's Worldwide Adventures
When I visited Iraq a couple of years ago, people looked at me like I was crazy. Nobody had ever heard of the Kurds, who carved out their own territory in northern Iraq called Iraqi Kurdistan. Nobody had ever heard about the Peshmerga, literally “those who face death.” And nobody had ever heard of the […]
You know that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer adopts a section of the highway? He decided he wants to have double wide lanes for a leisurely driving experience, except it creates complete and utter chaos on the roadway… That’s what driving in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is like! I, for one 24 hour period, rented a […]
Picture this. You’ve rented a car and you’re going for a little joyride in northern Iraq. You pass the turn off for Saladin’s Fortress, which, these days, finds itself surrounded by land mines. And then you turn onto one of Iraqi Kurdistan‘s premiere sights…the Hamilton Road. Right about now you’re probably thinking…I drove all this way for a road? But […]
If you’re planning on traveling overland from Turkey to Iraq‘s northern Kurdistan Region (Iraqi Kurdistan), I’ve got news for you! The days of being forced to use the taxi mafia to get across the border are over! Instead, you can travel across the border in style on a comfortable Turkish bus! How does it work? Get Yourself to […]
Mention “Iraq” to anyone who reads the newspaper regularly and they’ll probably get a troubled look on their faces. It feels like at least once a week or so, I see a headline about explosions ripping through Iraqi cities as sectarian violence flares. The perceived danger alone is why people give me this strange look […]
It was day 2 in Iraq and I was confused. I had a mission: To visit Amadiya (commonly called and even spelled Amedy or Amedi), famed for some fancy old gate I had spotted in a Lonely Planet guide. But I had a problem. I had no idea how to get there… See, cities in Kurdistan, three […]
History is everywhere in the Middle East. Throughout the “Cradle of Civilization” lie remnants of many millennia of human activity, stuffed right into the hustle and bustle of modern-day life. I saw bits of this in Istanbul, with its Roman ruins and massive mosques, dating back centuries, but even that is small potatoes in this […]
Have you ever heard of “Chemical Ali?” You know, Saddam Hussein’s cousin who was responsible for “Gassing the Kurds?” His biggest claim to fame happened on March 16, 1988 on an otherwise quiet day, at least as quiet as it gets in an active war zone! It was late in the Iran-Iraq War when Saddam […]