Iraq | Very Hungry Nomads

Iraq

War-torn. Breathtaking Mountains. Friendly people.

IraqMarty2021-10-23T17:31:22+11:00

About Iraq

Iraq may not be on the bucket list for many people. This war-torn country is portrayed by the media as extremely dangerous and travelling to this part of the world is not encouraged. Everybody hopes it recovers soon, but amidst the turmoil in Iraq, there is a part of this country that still remains safe and very welcoming. Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq has somehow managed to stay peaceful and the economy is booming. It is this part of Iraq where seasoned travellers venture into to get a glimpse of this ancient land.

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Read more about Iraq

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Food in Libya 🇱🇾 We were so excited to try

📍Tarmeisa Village in the Nafusa Mountains 🙌🇱🇾

You would be also jumping for joy if you could see these views and this place. 😯

Today we explored the abandoned stone village of Tarmeisa in the Berbers heartland. The village was built on a narrow rocky cliff with incredible views all the way to the coast. This fortress-like architecture would withstand the cold winters and any conquest and it has a particular design.

The only entrance was through a town gate, which once had a drawbridge. The bridge was opened every morning at 6 am and closed again at 6 pm, effectively sealing off the town.

Our guide told us a legend that once upon a time when the village was under siege, fully surrounded, the locals decided to fill a goat with the best fruits and nuts and threw it out the window down to the enemies. The enemies got scared as they thought the village must have so much food since they are just throwing food away and surrounding them could take months before they would surrender, so they quickly ended the siege. 😉

We explored the tunnels, rooms, a small mosque and even found a room with a huge stone oil press.

The Berbers are the indigenous people of Libya and can be found in other parts of North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). To combat discrimination and to reclaim their identity, the indigenous peoples use the terms: Amazigh (singular), Imazighen (plural) to refer to themselves.

It was to here that many Amazigh retreated from invading Arab armies in the 7th century, and the Jebel Nafusa (Mountains Nafusa) remains one of the few areas in Libya where their culture still thrives.
In the second photo, you can see the symbol that forms the Amazigh flag. The "ⵣ" symbol in the letter is called "yaz" in Tifinagh (the Amazigh alphabet).

#visiteverycountry #visitlibya #jebelnafusa #libya

📍Qasr al-Haj 🇱🇾 This is the magnificent

📍Qasr al-Haj 🇱🇾

This is the magnificent 12th century fortified granary of Qasr al-Haj. What an impressive sight!

This is the largest Qasr is Libya and it’s over 800 years old.

Small doors to 114 storerooms stud the walls. A space about five metres deep is where each local family would store their grain and other agricultural goods.

These rooms offer protection from bad weather, thieves and pests.

Our guide showed us on the ground level more rooms designed for the storage of large terracotta jars of olive oil.

Have you ever seen anything like this before? 😮

#visitlibya #visiteverycountry #libya #granery

The medina of Tripoli feels like a treasure hunt!

The medina of Tripoli feels like a treasure hunt! We could spend hours here.

The various souks are organised as always. One dedicated to wedding clothes, the other to antiques, and another one to gold jewellery.

The most exciting part is how authentic it is. Without tourists, there is no need to import foreign made souvenirs.

The antique shop we walked in was full of old treasures and Marty was excited to find glassware from the old Czechoslovakia.

In the section with wedding dresses, we were stunned by the detail and quality of the clothes. Naturally, a wedding in Libya is a big occasion and the wedding clothing costs a fortune. But we were told most people will reuse it for another special occasion.

Maybe the fashionable fitted clothes might have something to do with Libya’s connection to Italy? (Italy’s fashion is also renowned for being exceptional)

At some point we strolled down and were ushered to see the mosque. In true Libyan style as our guide explains, the old roman ruins were “recycled” and reused to build this mosque.

If you look closely on the photo number 3, you’ll see the roman columns supporting the arches of the mosque. In a way, the use of them helped them to be preserved.

We finished the walk at a cafe with one of the best coffees we had in North Africa. As our Libyan friend said, “We have the best coffee in North Africa as we took it from the Italians”

Photo 1: Inside the souvenir shop
Photo 2: The proud owner of the antique shop
3: Inside the mosque built with Roman columns
4 and 5: Snaps from the medina

#libya #visiteverycountry #tripolilibya #tripolimedina #tripoli

The arch of Marcus Aurelius at the entrance to the

The arch of Marcus Aurelius at the entrance to the medina of Tripoli, the capital of #Libya.

This triumphal arch is the only fully standing structure that remains from Roman era here in the capital city.

As the city has been continuously inhabited, people simply reused material and built on top of the former settlement known as Oea.

Of course there are some amazing Roman structures not far from here in Sabratha and Leptis Magna.

This arch was built from Italian marble which is probably the main reason why it is still standing today.

It’s more than 1800 years old 😮, can you believe it? We just stroll under it to enter the old medina of souks.

#visiteverycountry #tripolilibya #marcusaureliusarch #visitlibya #libya #libya🇱🇾

Welcome to Libya!🇱🇾 Our country #187 on our

Welcome to Libya!🇱🇾

Our country #187 on our journey to #visiteverycountry in the world. 🌍

We are so happy to finally get here. This has been a really difficult country to visit. Everything about trying to visit Libya was a challenge.

Back in 2019 when we spent most of the year exploring the African continent, we quickly realised Libya will be a hard one to visit.

There were no tourists visas offered, the only option was to obtain a business visa. To make it even harder, we found out that some of the visas (Yemen and Afghanistan) in our passports might be a problem for clearing immigration.

We decided to come back to Libya on our new passports. But, in order to receive the visa, you must first get an invitation letter issued by the ministry in Libya.

Sadly, we were denied the first time around, apparently because we were two women. We tried again with support of a different company and this time we got it.

All we needed to do was drive to the embassy in Canberra, Australia to get the visa as we didn’t have the time to wait for it in the mail.

Again there were some issues with nationality, but with some smooth talking, we managed to secure it.

Then the pandemic began and on March 2020 we found ourselves on a friends sofa in London awaiting the news if we can fly into Libya.

The text came in: Do not come, borders have closed.

Fast forward 20 months later which we spent in Australia and the possibility of a visit to Libya has resurfaced. We could finally leave Australia and we applied for our visa again. And a few weeks laters, here we are …

Many photos and stories to come…

#visiteverycountryintheworld #libya #libyaflag #travellibya

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