CECILIA CLARK P HOTOGRAPHY

Today is our last chance to see Erbil. We walked the five blocks or so to Old Erbil hoping to tour the 6,000 year old Citadel, but the Citadel is being renovated so the only thing open to us was the view. Today was another post-election holiday, and the Citadel viewpoint was full of other people enjoying the view and taking their own photos. One of the carpet shops below the Citadel The Qaysari Bazaar (visible in the above right photo/right side of photo) is Erbil's oldest l

Derek used his contacts and arranged for an English speaking driver to take us to the mountains of Kurdistan. Our first stop was Korek Mountain Resort at an elevation of 2,000 m/6561 feet. It is November but there is no snow. We didn't expect snow. If there is snow, it falls during November to January. We took the 4 k/2.5 mile gondola to the resort. It takes about 12 minutes and the view below is really lovely especially with some of the trees changing color. It seemed like i

In Mosul, we stayed at the Al-Barone Hotel. After Daesh was defeated in Mosul, the hotel was renovated and has been open for 2-3 years. The backside of the hotel is scar free but the abutting building is still gutted and bears the scars of the battles. Al-Barone Hotel is just 2-3 blocks from the bazaar. Because we weren't leaving for Erbil until late morning, Dan and I walked over to the fish market and bazaar to take a last look. The fish market was already beginning to bust