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Iraq Travel

Baghdad Museum Reopens After 6 Years Reclaiming Its Stuff

February 25, 2009 at 4:41 PM | 0 Comments

After six years and the looting of over 14,000 priceless pieces, the Baghdad Museum has reopened with a red carpet gala and the requisite security for visitors. Not that we advise you to plan a trip there anytime soon, but there have got to be some roving war reporters out there looking for new ways to pass a lazy weekend afternoon.

Surprisingly, prior to the museum's restoration and reopening, 8,500 of the 15,000+ stolen items were recovered and are now either under lock and key in the vaults or under constant watch as the first few visitors cautiously peer into cases. According to the AP, there is still wariness over the 2003 looting of the museum and for now, "the museum — which holds artifacts from the Stone Age through the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods — will be open to the public starting Tuesday but only for organized tours."

No doubt there will be signs at the entrance banning the carrying of chisels, so leave your Tombraider fantasties at home. For the opening gala, however, all the good stuff was dusted off and displayed as a show of renewed stability, including two small winged bulls and statues from the Assyrian and Babylonian periods more than 2,000 years ago, considered to be amongst the most valuable items in the museum collection. With all the hype around the reopening, we feel pretty bad for that Italian tourist who made the risky trip into Iraq a few weeks too late to hit up the museum; maybe next time, buddy.

Related Stories
· Baghdad Museum Reopens 6 Years After Looting [AP]
· Restored Baghdad Museum reopens with most of its greatest treasures [Guardian UK]
· Italian Tourist in Falluja Shows How Extreme Travel is Done [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Khalid Mohammed/AP]

Iraq Travel

Italian Tourist in Falluja Shows How Extreme Travel is Done

February 7, 2009 at 1:52 PM | 0 Comments

The airwaves are filled with travel shows featuring supposedly bold and daring adventurers visiting exotic countries and eating weird animal parts, but one western tourist has proven to have bigger coglioni than the lot of them. As the New York Times points out in a jaw-dropping story, Italian Luca Marchio was having a grand old time traveling alone through Iraq until his backpacking adventure was put to an end by Iraqi and U.S. authorities in Falluja.

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Dangerous Travel

Good Luck Visiting The Iraqi Shoe Monument

February 2, 2009 at 11:40 AM | 1 Comment

But is there an old woman in it?

An Iraqi town has erected a monument to the journalist who threw a shoe at former President Bush, although conditions on the ground in the war-torn country may preclude a steady stream of visitors.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a journalist who grew up in Sadr City, was just a broadcast journalist at Al-Baghdadia TV before he chucked his shoe at the visiting president -- a local sign of disrespect. Now the city of Tikrit, near Saddam Hussein's birthplace, has immortalized the shoe in a sofa-sized statue -- even while al-Zaidi is in jail awaiting trial.

Iraq sure could use a tourism boost: The State Department currently considers the country "very dangerous" (no kidding) and, while it has not stopped issuing visas for Iraq, it strongly cautions against visiting there. It's too bad, because we'd love to take some gag photos with that shoe.

Related Stories:
· Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush [Reuters via Yahoo!]
· Iraq Travel Warning [Travel.State.Gov]
· Iraq coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: DayLife.com]

Iraq Travel

Iraq Tourism Potential Hyped Yet Again

September 18, 2008 at 5:00 PM | 0 Comments

Haven't we heard this one before? Seems Iraq is hoping to lure in some tourists. But this time, travel promoters are thinking really big: Ideas include a cruise ship port in Basra, ziggurat-spotting in Ur and rides to Baghdad on Saddam's presidential train.

Says a diplomat from the UK:

Basra itself was a medieveal town, and you have the cradle of civilization here. You could have people's cruise ships come back here to see the hanging gardens of Babylon.

We are on major bird migration routes, you could do that. In five years you can have a significantly improved city. It is potentially a hugely civilised and cultured place.

Ah! There's the rub: Any of this won't happen for at least another five years. That'll give you some time to save up for that day of shark fishing.

Related Stories:
· Iraq to Promote Its Tourist Potential [Telegraph]
· Heidi and Spencer Plan Iraq Trip [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Paulio Geordio]

Sharks

Iraq Travel: The Next Hot Spot for Shark Fishing

October 31, 2007 at 3:20 PM | 3 Comments

Attention! A new force is threatening the sovereignty of Iraq, and it's very, very hungry. A man fishing in a canal near the southern city of Nassiriya caught a six-foot-long shark who somehow eluded barriers and swam up the Euphrates River into what is known as the cradle of civilization.

Some Iraqis believe the shark was planted by occupying American forces to scare the locals. But that doesn't answer the question of how the shark got to Nassiriya in the first place. If Iraq is a little exotic for you, visit our fishing map to find some more traditional spots for landing a big catch on your next trip.

Related Stories:
· Fisherman Nets Shark 200 km from Sea [Yahoo]
· Deep Sea Fishing Spots [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JawsMovie.com]

Celeb Travel

Super World Traveler Angelina Jolie Is Fearless

August 29, 2007 at 9:05 AM | 0 Comments

Remember when Senator John McCain told CNN Iraq was so safe he could walk through its neighborhoods--and then he did so with like 100 armed guards? Well, sir, Angelina Jolie has just upped the ante. The actress and Original Super World Traveler snuck off to a UN refugee camp in Iraq yesterday to talk to displaced people trying to gain admittance to Syria. As a goodwill ambassador she has also visited camps in Sierra Leone, Pakistan and Sudan's Darfur region.

Obviously Jolie had her bodyguard present, and probably other back-up support. But just wait till you see our "Angelina '08" bumper stickers! (As a Super World Traveler, she'll be a lock for our candidate travel map.)

The State Department's guidelines on Iraq travel note that terrorists are targeting civil aviation, vehicular travel within the country is very dangerous and that "the Embassy can provide only limited emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq."

Related Stories:
· Super World Travelers coverage [Jaunted]
· Iraq Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Iraq

New Iraqi Airline Bans Iraqis

August 8, 2007 at 10:50 AM | 0 Comments

Expat Airways is Iraq's answer to Southwest. The self-proclaimed "no frills" airline is the first of its kind in Iraq. Monday, it started operating weekly flights between Baghdad and Amman, Jordan.

While budget U.S. carriers ban large bottles of fluid and European LCCs have draconian baggage restrictions, Expat prohibits its own citizens from boarding. It has a strict "Westerners only" policy, straight out of the Mein Kampf business practices handbook. In addition to Iraqis, Indians, Pakistanis and most other non-Westerners need not attempt to book a flight.

According to ABC, Ahmed al Musawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Transportation Ministry, called Expat's flight restrictions ''immoral'' but said there are no federal laws in Iraq banning such actions. Go figure.

Related Stories:
· Iraqi Airline [ABC News]
· Iraq Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: ABC News]