Irbil

Trip Start Jun 15, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Iraq Irbil, Iraq
Monday, December 28, 2009

Irbil was supposed to be the second to last stop on the Syria-Iran trip, we arrived there at some stage in the afternoon after stopping in Lalish. Lalish, an amazing small mountain town sacred to the Yazidi people. After being shown around the town by a young guide, and noticing the presence of heavy security which was ever present in all places in Iraq. We drank the sacred water and witnessed a pair of local children being blessed in a spiritual ritual.

Irbil itself wasn't much to report, a relatively big city but like the rest of the region dirty, chaotic and desperately poor. We arrived in the city and were mobbed by people everywhere we went, afraid to leave the car unattended, we looked to find a place to stay as we hadn't been able to prepare beforehand. We unsuccessfully attempted to find a CS host, and found the hotel prices to be a little more than our budget allowed. We made the decision to proceed eastwards towards Sulaymaniyah, but were forced to stop at nightfall at a petrol station where we set up camp for the night. It was in this moment I realized I didn't want to travel any further east towards Iran and had to make the inevitable trip back to Istanbul, some 1500kms away.

We stayed in a pleasant enough petrol station, the attendant and the owner were friendly enough, we watched television and drank cay with them before going to sleep under the stars, by this time we were completely exhausted.

Irbil hotels Slideshow