When Claudius Bombarnac, Jules Verne´s imaginary hero in The Adventures of a Special Correspondent, arrives at the Apsheron peninsula on the shores of the Caspian he is appalled by the pollution, but thrilled at the same time by the naphtha that seeped out of the ground.
Middle East
Northern Iraq – There And Back Again
by Karlos Zurutuza •
The “Hamilton route”, named after the New Zealand engineer who designed it, links both Iraq and Iran through astonishing mountain landscapes, deep in the heart of Kurdistan.
Features, Middle East
Iraq – Lalish And The Yezidi Kurds
by Karlos Zurutuza •
Lalish: the Kurds´ hidden treasure in northern Iraq Safe in the Kurdish haven of northern Iraq, but still only 50 km north of war-torn Mosul, lies Lalish, the Yezidi Kurds´ holiest shrine. Visiting this particular site, tantamount to the Catholics´ Vatican or Muslims’ Mecca, had become an obsession since I first came across Yezidi Kurds…