Day 3.

Enjoying another tasty breakfast before another busy day of sightseeing.


Today's plan was to head north of Baghdad to the Great Mosque of Samarra and then head back to Baghdad and then continue south to Salman Pak to visit the Archway of Ctesiphon.


The sun rising in the east as we cross a bridge over the Tigris.


Armoured personnel carriers blocking the road. Raad said that there were frequent government protests on Friday morning after prayers so the Police close some of the roads to traffic to allow the people to march unimpeded.


A pickup filled with kids as we stop to refuel just outside of Baghdad.


One of the many checkpoints we had to stop at as we headed north. Although the checkpoints just outside of Baghdad were manned by the Iraqi Police, as we got further north they were under the control of the Shi'ite Militia, Sarāyā al-Salām, a reincarnation of the Mahdi Army (JAM; جيش المهدي Jaish al-Mahdī), and are led by Muqtada al-Sadr.


Unlike the other parts of Iraq we would be visiting on our trip, the official UK Foreign Office Travel advisory classified the area north of Baghdad around Samarra as a red zone, or "Advise against all travel". With the frequent militia checkpoints and occasional bombed and destroyed buildings about there was definitely a change in atmosphere.

After ~2 hours we arrived on the outskirts of Samarra. A mural with the Malwiya Minaret which we would be visiting shortly.


As we got closer to our destination, there was a large milita checkpoint checking all the vehicles. While previously Raad had simply shown our paperwork from the Ministry of Tourism, this time they wanted to see our passports. Harry and Alastair had left theirs back in Baghdad but Raad managed to use his charm and 15 minutes later we were on our way again.

Looking across to the Malwiya Minaret at the Great Mosque of Samarra.