The Journal
The blog of Iraqi Journeys with Ali
Stories from the road, the marshes at dawn, the citadels of the north, the deserts that keep their secrets. Written by Ali and the travelers who walk beside him.
[MosulMosul Reborn
Where the Tigris bends through northern Iraq, a city that was almost destroyed is building itself again, one church, one mosque, one narrow street at a time.
[BabylonWalking Through Babylon
Two and a half thousand years after Nebuchadnezzar built it, the walls of Babylon still rise from the Iraqi plain. Saddam's palace stands on the hill above.
[KarbalaThe Story of Karbala
On a plain between Najaf and the Euphrates, seventy-two men stood against an army of four thousand. What happened there changed the course of a faith.
[NajafThe Golden Dome of Najaf
Stand before the resting place of Imam Ali as the evening light turns the dome to gold, and walk through the largest cemetery the world has ever known.
[ErbilErbil Citadel: The Oldest City on Earth
Six thousand years of continuous habitation on one mound, and the bazaar below that is still gloriously, stubbornly alive.
[SamarraSamarra: The Spiral That Points to the Sky
Nine coils of brick rising fifty-two metres over the Tigris, climbing the Malwiya, and what the Abbasid age still has to say to a traveler today.
[HatraHatra: The City That Rome Never Took
Twice the legions besieged it, twice they marched away with nothing. Walking the great iwans of the sun temple city, and the story of the goddess Shahiro.
[MarshesA Dawn in the Mesopotamian Marshes
Gliding through the reed channels of Chibayish as the first light of morning turns the water to gold, a glimpse of the Iraq that guidebooks cannot prepare you for.
[KurdistanNowruz in Kurdistan: The Fires That Spring Back
On the evening of 20 March, the hills of Kurdistan light up. Bonfires, circle dances, and a celebration that has survived three thousand years of empire, suppression, and war.