In this post we drive from Baghdad to Mosul in Northern Iraq via Samarra and the ancient city of Hatra.
Forgot to let you all know that Alexander The Great of Greece died in the ancient city of Babylon in 323BC but his body was taken back to Northern Greece.
Today was checkpoint day. What does this mean? Today was the feast day of the tenth infallible Shia Imam Hassan Alaskarey, which attracts thousands of faithful to his Holy Shrine in the city of Samarra. As a result there are extra military checkpoints set up to ensure that the faithful remain safe. This however caused us significant delays and what would have been a two hour drive turned into a four hour expedition to Samarra. The custom of the day is for Shia Muslims to walk to the shrine from where they live but for most this is not possible due to distance and the near 40C temperatures outside. There is another tradition on this day of the locals of Samarra offering visitors free food and drinks. Several people boarded our bus with free water, fruit, sweets and even beans and rice. A nice tradition indeed. When we got to Samarra it was packed with buses and cars but worth it. The spiral minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra stood out like a Tower of Babel in its own rite. Hundreds of people were climbing it and up to 30 people at a time stood precariously at the top 52 metres above the ground. It is a wonder that no one has fallen and died here. The 2007 UNESCO protected Great Mosque of Samarra was commissioned in 848 and completed in 851 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned (in Samarra) from 847 until 861. At the time of construction, it was the world's largest mosque. The mosque itself was destroyed in 1278 but completely restored in 1956. Given the 4hrs to get here we had only time to walk around the minaret but not climb it or visit the mosque otherwise we would miss out on Hatra given the added checkpoints today. Samarra (Pop 348,700, Elev 123m, Founded 863AD) is also UNESCO protected since it is on top of an ancient Assyrian city from the 7th Century BC.
The drive to Hatra took close to 4hrs across very arid flat yellow sandy desert. Occasionally you would patches of green thanks to run-off from the Tigris River that snakes its way down from Turkey. I kept thinking how people can live out here. The guides mentioned that in July the temperatures can reach 55C but they have never been properly recorded and submitted. In summer only the men leave their houses to do shopping given that Muslim women in black hijabs could never survive anything over 45C !!!
Hatra was an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia located in present-day eastern Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. The city lies 290 km (180 mi) northwest of Baghdad and 110 km (68 mi) southwest of Mosul. Hatra was a strongly fortified caravan city and capital of the small Arab Kingdom of Hatra, located between the Roman and Parthian / Persian empires. Hatra flourished in the 2nd century, and was destroyed and deserted in 241AD. Its impressive ruins were discovered in the 19th century. Hatra was the best preserved and most informative example of a Parthian city. Its plan was circular and was encircled by inner and outer walls nearly 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in diameter and supported by more than 160 towers – 132 were still standing until ISIS destroyed them. Many temples covered some 1.2 hectares and were dominated by the Great Temple, an enormous structure with vaults and columns that once rose to 30 metres. The city was famed for its fusion of Greek, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Aramean and Arabian architecture.
Hatra is literally in the middle of nowhere – many kilometres from the main road connecting Mosul to Baghdad and surrounded by a sea of super hot sandy desert. ISIS used this site as a base camp because they knew the Iraqi forces would not bomb it but ended up destroying 30-40% of the complex. Despite this, sunset here is magic and you can climb atop one of the temples to get a view of the entire complex including the surrounding desert. Hatra was built here because of its strategic location and the availability of underground water.
It took us 90min to get to Mosul and given the 8pm arrival all I could think about was an air conditioned room with plenty of wine and olives.
Enjoy the first batch of sites of Northern Iraq…
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