Exploring the Ancient Wonders of Babylon, Nasiriyah, and the Iraqi Marshes

My first stop was the legendary ruins of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and a symbol of human achievement. This ancient city was once the capital of the Babylonian Empire, ruled by King Nebuchadnezzar II, Stepping into the site felt like walking through the pages of history and was one of my bucket list moments.

The Ishtar Gate remains an iconic symbol of Babylon. However, the site's real charm lies in its ruins, where the outlines of the Processional Way and the massive Ziggurat of Etemenanki, believed to have inspired the biblical Tower of Babel, still stand tall. One interesting part of this place was its believed Alexander the Great died in Babylon, in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, but even better was the Lion of Babylon with the view of one of the many governmental palaces that Saddam built behind it, also owing to Saddam's madness he had the following engraved on bricks built into the palace

“In the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein, the president of the Republic, may God keep him the guardian of the great Iraq and the renovator of its renaissance and the builder of its great civilization, the rebuilding of the great city of Babylon was done in 1987.”

That evening we drove to Karbala to visit the shrines with golden domes of Imams Hussain and Abbas, the sons of Ali Bin Abi Talib and shrine museums. In 2007, a suicide bomber killed at least 42 people in Karbala & injured more than 160 close to Imam Hussein Mosque and then two weeks later a car bomb exploded in front of the Shia Abbas ibn Ali shrine killing at least 68 people and injured about 170. So it was decided that the area close to the shrines would become a car free zone due to bombings. The inside of these shrines are amazing to see but in the same way that Afghan has rules it was men in one side and women to the other & all women had to be fully covered up with only their face on show.

Nasiriyah: The Heartbeat of Southern Iraq

Next day it was time to visit Nasiriyah, a city in southern Iraq that serves as the capital of Dhi Qar Province. Nasiriyah is known for its proximity to the ancient city of Ur, the birthplace of the biblical figure Abraham, Our main purpose of this visit was to see the The Great Ziggurat which was built as a place of worship, dedicated to the moon god Nanna in the Sumerian city of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia. The site includes Abraham House, Sholgi Palace, and the oldest arch of its kind at the entrance of Dub-Lal-Makh Temple.

The Tranquil Beauty of the Iraqi Marshes

Next, I ventured into one of the world’s most unique and endangered ecosystems: the Iraqi Marshes, located in the southern part of the country near the borders with Iran and Kuwait. We started the day with a 3.30am wakeup to make the drive to Chibayesh where we then have a local breakfast in the mud house and be followed by a sightseeing tour in numerous floating villages – the Gardens of Eden (birds, fishes, buffalos, reed, plants, and meeting the people of Ahwar). It is one of the largest ecosystems in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site since 2016. After the boat tour we were invited into the tribe leaders home who made us dinner & we heard stories from local people “Al Maadan” who have adapted to life on the water over the centuries.

Unfortunately, the marshes have been severely damaged in recent decades, particularly during the Saddam regime, when large-scale drainage projects were carried out to punish the marsh dwellers who had supported uprisings against the government.

Once we arrived back to our hotel it was time to rest before we hit the road again the next day for a busy few day to visit Samarra, Hatra, Mosul & Erbil