Tourism Business

Blog Post About November 2021

Doug's tourism business had some customers from America in November. They stayed in the city for a few days, but they also took a five day bus tour out and around the country seeing some incredible places.

I have never been to most of these places, but Doug toured with them, and the men shared some of their photos with me.

I do know one thing. These guys were treated like celebrities wherever they went. 

Locals would stop them to talk, ask where they were from, engage them in conversation, serve them tea, and sometimes offer food along with incredible hospitality the people here are known for.

This is an ancient aqueduct from the time of King Sennacherib, who reigned the Assyrian empire 700 years before Christ

This is ancient cuneiform writing from this same time period

The guys also got to go in places I probably wouldn't be allowed.

This is a Yazidi temple. You might have read about this people group in the news in the last few years.

This is the site where Nahum's tomb is. 

Days after this photo was taken, the grand opening ceremony for it took place. We have been here twice in the last four years, and it's been constantly under construction. It will be nice to see it all finished when we return.

We climbed up to this cave about 5 years ago.

We traveled deep into it, and it seemed to go forever.

The guys were short on time, so they couldn't do much exploring inside, but you can see from the picture how vast it is.

They also traveled to one of the monasteries that we have been to a few times. 

I wrote about it Here and Here.

I thought this was a pretty picture, and even though I see these spices in markets all the time, I forget what a novelty they are for some people who don't live on this side of the world.

I want to point out the black spheres on the left. Those are dried lemons, and I have had some really good dishes and drinks made with them. I just haven't learned how to use them myself.

This picture was taken in Halabja. If you don't know the story of why that city is significant, you should probably google it. 

The men had a tour guide who lost 45 family members on that fateful March day in 1988. He miraculously survived in the cab of a truck, but he did lose his sight for 6 months. He and the girl he married are still suffering affects of the chemical warfare attack today. Every child they have had has died an early death.

Thousands died that day and the days after.

Another facet of this country that they found interesting was the number of waterfalls they came across. 

And these are just a few. 

God has been providing water to this region for thousands of years.

"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but..."