Into Iraq
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Day 2, Ongözlü Bridge, Diyarbakı, Turkey
The handsome ten-arched stone bridge from which we see the Tigris in motion for the first time.
Day 2, Ongözlü Bridge, Diyarbakı, Turkey
Day 2, Mangal Bar, Diyarbakı, Turkey
Dinner with Dilan, a Kurdish nationalist. The food we order is cooked on a charcoal fire inches away from us.
Day 2, Mangal Bar, Diyarbakı, Turkey
Day 3, 'New', Hasankeyf, Turkey
Replicas of the drowned old town’s buildings. Nothing can disguise the fact that the real thing has gone for ever.
Day 3, 'New', Hasankeyf, Turkey
Day 4, Old Mardin City Centre, Mardin, Turkey
A statue of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.
Day 4, Old Mardin City Centre, Mardin, Turkey
Day 5, Outskirts of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq
The first signs of the scale of damage done to this ancient city is the wrecked shell of a huge hospital.
Day 5, Outskirts of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq
Day 5, Mosul, Iraq
I'm not naive enough to think that all is well in the ruins of Mosul, but the quite spontaneous welcome we've received suggests that there is a resilience here that is stronger than anger.
Day 5, Mosul, Iraq
Day 5, Mosul, Iraq
I see more of Mosul in the company of a young man called Harith.
Day 5, Mosul, Iraq
Day 6, Downtown, Erbil, Iraq
Tea at the atmospheric old tea-room, whose walls are filled with photos of those that have drunk here over the years.
Day 6, Downtown, Erbil, Iraq
Day 6, Shar Garden Square, Erbil, Iraq
Huda Sarhang - she would like to run for election but for now, she's making a living from producing candles based on the shape of the local tea glasses.
Day 6, Shar Garden Square, Erbil, Iraq
Day 7, Nowruz Festival, Akre, Iraq
The only place where true Kurds celebrate Nowruz, the New Year festival, is in the town of Akre, in the mountains seventy miles north of Erbil.
Day 7, Nowruz Festival, Akre, Iraq
Day 7, Kali mountain, Akre, Iraq
As the sun sinks the signal is given and torches are seized and lit with furious enthusiasm.
Day 7, Kali mountain, Akre, Iraq
Day 9, Mr.Erbil Genltemen's House, Erbil , Iraq
With the proprietors. Their aim is to build on a Kurdish tradition of fine-cut tailoring and the use of good quality materials.
Day 9, Mr.Erbil Genltemen's House, Erbil , Iraq
Day 9, Oil Fields, Kirkuk, Iraq
'The Eternal Flame' of Baba Gurgur.
Day 9, Oil Fields, Kirkuk, Iraq
Day 9, Makhoul Moutains, Iraq
Lookout towers and guard posts are every other mile.
Day 9, Makhoul Moutains, Iraq
Day 9, Checkpoint Cheerful, Tikrit, Iraq
At the fourth checkpoint, with two still to go before Tikrit, something remarkable happens.
Day 9, Checkpoint Cheerful, Tikrit, Iraq
Day 10, Tikrit, Iraq
A display of photos of the victims of the Camp Speicher Massacre.
Day 10, Tikrit, Iraq
Day 10, Presidential Sites, Tikrit, Iraq
Saddam's destroyed palaces behind fences and barbed wire.
Day 10, Presidential Sites, Tikrit, Iraq
Day 10, Malwiya Mosque, Samarra, Iraq
If Tikrit was a low point on my journey, the ascent of the minaret at Samarra is, in every sense of the word, a high.
Day 10, Malwiya Mosque, Samarra, Iraq
Day 11, Duluiyah, Iraq
What should be wheat fields. The water levels have dropped so far that what is left in a stream is salty and useless.
Day 11, Duluiyah, Iraq
Day 12, The Qushla, Baghdad, Iraq
A statue, not of a dictator or a politician, but a poet. Abu Tayyib ibn al-Husayn wrote in the tenth century CE.
Day 12, The Qushla, Baghdad, Iraq
Day 12, Al Rashid Street, Baghdad, Iraq
Some of the most beautiful old buildsings I've seen in Iraq.
Day 12, Al Rashid Street, Baghdad, Iraq
Day 12, Grand Festivities Square, Baghdad, Iraq
The most instantly recognisable feature is the Victory Arch, two pairs of crossed swords which straddle the parade ground at either end.
Day 12, Grand Festivities Square, Baghdad, Iraq
Day 12, Baghdadi Restaurant, Baghdad, Iraq
Traditional dinner of Mazgouf with Sara, a young Iraqi bio-physicist of great poise and confidence.
Day 12, Baghdadi Restaurant, Baghdad, Iraq
Day 13, Istar Gate, Babylon, Iraq
The Ishar Gate is very fine and striking. But it's not the real thing. The original is in a museum in Berlin.
Day 13, Istar Gate, Babylon, Iraq
Day 13, Babylon Palace, Babylon, Iraq
Built for Suddam Hussein every wall, every pillar, every staircase is scrawled with graffiti.
Day 13, Babylon Palace, Babylon, Iraq
Day 13, Karbala, Iraq
The two mosques at Karbala exude wealth, with shining gold domes and glittering, almost Vegas-like interiors.
Day 13, Karbala, Iraq
Day 14, The Iraqi Gifted School, Baghdad, Iraq
From the age of nine the brightest are plucked from schools all over Baghdad. They've never met anyone from outside Iraq and they have many questions.
Day 14, The Iraqi Gifted School, Baghdad, Iraq
Day 15, Al-Zaitton Hotel, Nasiriyah, Iraq
One of the window panes in my room has a bullet hole in it. How recently was it fired? How deeply have I been sleeping? Are they still out there?
Day 15, Al-Zaitton Hotel, Nasiriyah, Iraq
Day 15, Great Ziggurat of Ur, Nasiriyah, Iraq
The Ziggurate, part temple complex and a shrine to the moon god, has a presence equalling that of any of the pyramids.
Day 15, Great Ziggurat of Ur, Nasiriyah, Iraq
Day 16, Arab Marshes, Iraq
The narrow, sharp-nosed canoes that take me up through the canals and into the marshes.
Day 16, Arab Marshes, Iraq
Day 16, Arab Marshes, Iraq
Sabah Thamer Htaiht, a young man, solemn and passionate about life on the marshes.
Day 16, Arab Marshes, Iraq
Day 16, Al-Qurnah, Iraq
The location where the Tigris and the Eurphrates meet. Al-Qurnah is also thought to be the site of the Garden of Eden.
Day 16, Al-Qurnah, Iraq
Day 16, Basra, Iraq
Venice of the East. One of the old finely crafted houses that border the canals.
Day 16, Basra, Iraq
Day 17, Grand Port, Al Faw, Iraq
The worlds longest breakwater. I'm told it's seventeen kilometres long.
Day 17, Grand Port, Al Faw, Iraq
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