Our drive this morning into Mosul, Iraq: DISCLAIMER: Mosul is NOT a destination recommended by us at The Monsoon Diaries or any of our travel partners at Young Pioneer Tours or Kurdistan Iraq Tours. It is NOT part of any official travel itinerary for these...
After an hour in Lalish, we drove towards the ancient Assyrian town of Alqosh, located 50km (31 miles) north of Mosul. Here Alqosh is primarily inhabited by ethnic Assyrians of the Chaldean Catholic Church and remains one of the few places on this planet where...
Trying to escape the thunderstorms that were about to overtake the site of the Battle of Gaugamela, we drove north towards Lalish. After a few checkpoints we reached a quiet area up in the mountains to reach the Yazidi village. The Yazidis are a group of...
Driving from Mar Mattai/Saint Matthew’s Monastery and closer towards the besieged city of Mosul, we reached the fabled site of the Battle of Gaugamela. Also called the Battle of Arbela, here lies one of the greatest military victories in history and the...
After an exhausting day driving around southeastern Kurdistan, this morning Abdallah and I set out at 9am west of Erbil towards Mosul. You would expect that we drove by a ton more military bases today. By 9:45am we had reached the main checkpoint between Kurdistan...
Within a one hour drive from Halabja away from the Iran/Iraq border, we reached Sulaymaniyah. Known for its open, relatively liberal and tolerant society when compared to other cities of Kurdistan, this sprawling city has been regarded as the capital of enlightenment...
Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble wrote a song in March 2011 dedicated to Halabja and the 7000 who died during the 1988 massacre by chemical warfare: After a day alone in Erbil, I was ready to see more of Iraq. Douglas Layton of Kurdistan Iraq Tours and his...
