Forts and shrines near Najaf

Forts and shrines near Najaf  

We left Karbala for whst should have been a short drive south. Our route went via Baghdad but the traffic was murder...so we back tracked to avoid the congested motorways to use ordinary main roads. The route was longer but the traffic moved. We also got rid of our pokice escort...we spoke to their commander who pulled them back to other duties so we could go at the permitted speed limit rather than their convoy speed.

That was fine for a while until an army checkpoint stopped us and we needed an escort. It was only a few kilometres into a seecurity zone bit orders are orders. We had a army escort to get to Al Ukhaidir Fortress. It is 160 metres along each side of a square. It is set in the desert awy from everything else. It looks impressive...

,,,but it was closed and still being built, despite being 700 years old. I suspect the officer meant refurbished rather than built, but it did look in remarkable condition.

One of the four gates.

A corner.

The only other building on site.

The main entrance.

The desert is flaat sand but where there is water, the desert can bloom...not clear from the picture but one round field in the centre is a well and pump that drives a set of sprinklers on an air on wheels to irrigate the crops.

Next just a few kilometres away was a 5th century church, Al Aqasir. Thats all we could see from the surrounding fence until the watchman came and unlocked the gates...

...a distant view of one wall...

...another view...

...the inner east wall...

...some of the plundered graves...

And then, since we had 'lost' our escort, we stopped at the At-Tar caves, convniently just a stone's throw from the main road where we 'lost'our escort. There are 400 man made caves dug into the soft sandstone, with evidence of being used over 13,000 years ago.

Other odd formations...

...and some hidden caves....

...odd weathering...

...holes in rocks....

...and pillars.

We got our passports bak from the army checkpoint who were probably happy to see the last of us. 

Then we drove on to nearby Najaf, another religous city and the shrine of Ali Hussein...the entrance to the shrine via a souk...

...and the main entrance to the shrine...and of course cameras are haram meaning forbidden so this is my only photo of the shrine...although oddly, phones are not confiscted and although phones photos are banned, people were eagerly taking selfies despite the rules.