Middle East - Anthony Ham [195]
To get to Sulaymaniyah, avoid travelling into or near the hotspot of Kirkuk. This is easy enough done. Start by taking a local taxi to the Koya Garage. From there, hire a shared taxi to Koya (ID5000), where you can catch another shared taxi to Sulaymaniyah (ID10,000).
Getting Around
Taxis within Erbil are cheap and plentiful. A short ride in town should cost between ID3000 to ID5000 and a bit more to the suburbs of Ainkawa and the airport.
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AROUND ERBIL
Khanzad Castle
Located 15km north of Erbil on the road to Shaqlawa, Khanzad Castle dates back to the Soran Period. The stone castle features a squat turret on each of its four corners. Saw-toothed battlements top the turret and main building of the castle. The castle was recently renovated and now looks a little too new.
Just up the road from the castle is Khanzad Hotel & Resort ( 066-224 5273; Erbil-Shaqlawa Hwy; www.khanzadresort.com; info@khanzadresort.com; s/d/ste ID208,000/260,000/338,000; ) a five-star hotel with all the comforts of home.
Salahaddin’s Fortress
Salahaddin’s Fortress (Kurdish: Qalat Salahaddin) is a spectacular ruin perched on a high ridge overlooking two valleys. A small path leads up to several stone walls and five turrets that survive intact. The history of this fortress, also called Deween Castle, is open to debate. According to the KRG Tourism Ministry, it was established by princes of the Zarzariya Tribe, who were associates of Shadi bin Marwan, the grandfather of 12th-century Kurdish conqueror Saladin (Salah ad-Din) – Click here.
Getting here is the hard part; there are no signs and even locals have never heard of the fortress. It’s located about 15km north of the city of Salahaddin, itself about 30km northeast of Erbil. From Salahaddin, a scenic drive traverses through a goat-herding region of tiny villages with mud-brick homes.
Warning: The last 5km to the fortress is a gravel road lined by minefields, identified by piles of rocks painted red. Never venture off hard surfaces.
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DUKAN
Dukan, 65km northwest of Sulaymaniyah, is a resort town on the banks of the Dukan Lake, the largest man-made lake in Iraq. It was created in 1959 when a dam was built on the Little Zab River to control flooding and provide hydroelectric power to the region. The massive, triangle-shaped lake behind the dam covers an area more than 150 sq km. The lake is a popular place for swimming and boating. Several hotels and holiday cabins have been built around the southern shores of the lake. On Fridays, the banks of the river below are swarmed with families enjoying the Kurdish national pastime of picnicking.
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SULAYMANIYAH
053 / pop 700,000
Beautiful and cosmopolitan Sulaymaniyah (Kurdish: Slemani) is Iraqi Kurdistan’s second-largest city, and easily the most liberal and Westernised city in Iraq. Born in 1784, Sulaymaniyah is a young city by Mesopotamian standards. That youthful vibrancy gives Sulaymaniyah something of a European vibe – trendy, fashion forward, chic, sophisticated, free spirited. It has a strong arts and cultural scene with great museums and several world-class universities including the new American University of Iraq. Sulaymaniyah is a place of natural beauty, located at 883m above sea level on a rolling plain at the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, a mere 40km from the Iranian border. Get here now before the masses discover this gem.
History
If Iraq is the cradle of civilisation, Sulaymaniyah is a newborn baby. It was founded in 1784 by Kurdish prince Ibrahim Pasha Babanm, who named it for his father Sulaiman Pasha. During WWI, the city was the centre of Kurdish nationalism. In May 1919 Sheikh Mahmmud Barzanji