The Sun is raising some time between five and six in the morning. I am opening my tired eyes and the first thing what I notice is the city sign of Tikrit - somewhere here we can find the birth village of the notorious dictator Saddam Husain. I am just passing the area which was occupied by the radical organisation Islamic State in the years 2014 to 2017. I am sitting in the shared taxi with two other people. I have convinced them and the driver that I am a tourist. Would you believe it? A tourist in Iraq? Yes, that is me and I am traveling to Mosul - the city where no tourist eye has been seen for almost 20 years. And so the real adventure begins.
I am arriving to the motel, the place where I am planning to spend two nights, very early - round nine in the morning. Since my room is not ready yet, the owner takes me on a small quick tour round the gates of Nineveh. Unfortunately, there is not much left from the sights. All preserved gates were destroyed by Daesh which is the acronym
for the Islamic State. They just took big excavators and demolished everything, Saed, the owner of the motel explains. There is pleasant 40 degrees celsius outside and we are passing the ruins of this historic city.
My preparation for the trip is simple, I print out all interesting places, sights and landmarks that I want to see and I show them to local taxi drivers. Here, in Mosul, they always know how to get to the place which I want to visit. Traveling by taxis in here is cheap, one drive within the city costs two US Dollars, which is 3000 Iraqi Dinar. The taxi driver takes me to the museum, which unfortunately looks very deserted, except for several tombs inside. Actually, ninety percent of artefacts has been stolen, destroyed or sold on the black market. cares about the historical sights in this war country which is misused by people who know how to profit from it. This is the grim reality. I do not spend much time in the museum and rather continue to the old town. I am particularly interested in the ruins of the castle Bash Tapia from the 12th century. This castle has been
also damaged by the Islamic State. Indeed, there are only few places left in the city which have not been destroyed by the Islamic State. Just at the corner I see a church which is in a horrible condition. The crucifix from the church steeple is missing, there are bullet marks everywhere and the church cupola is blown up. It is really horrible. However, the mosque located opposite to the church is also devastated - it seems as they were fighting in it. My melancholic feelings from this disaster are very quickly overshadowed by the group of construction workers who are repairing the nearby building. They want to have their picture taken with me. I make their true and we make some cute pictures together. While wandering the streets of the old town, which is literally a big pile of ruins, across a guy wearing traditional Iraqi costume. It seems he is pouring some tea, however the reality is different. Later on, I find out it is Sous, beverage which taste is really awful but has miraculous healing and antioxidant benefits. Locals drink it a lot and after some time even I am a big
fan of it. When I see someone pouring it, I stop by, drink a cup of it and have a feeling that I have done something beneficial for my health. Sous is made of liquorice root which grows by the rivers. To prepare this beverage, just take the root out of the soil, wash it at home, leave it in the water for 24 to 48 hours, wash it again and then drink the extract of it. It is particularly good for your kidney cleanse and detox.
Majority of soldiers do not even notice me, but some of them stop me and they are surprised by who I am and why I am traveling alone. They check me, call the headquarter but in the end they always let me go. They are not aware of the fact, that the free movement for tourists has been already allowed in the whole country.
