My brothers have both been to Iraq but under very different circumstances.  Ammon of course went as a backpacker and Skylar as a USA Marine.  Ammon has lovely memories while Skyar unfortunately not.

Ammon has this to say today:

“Iraqi Kurdistan is another misunderstood and controversial piece of the political jigsaw puzzle that is the middle east. It is technically an autonomous region of Iraq but the reality is it is run more like an independent country, complete with its own security, and internal immigration checkpoints. The result is that while security was a concern at the time (2012) and got worse shortly after with the rise of ISIS, if I hadn’t known better I would’ve believed I was in another gulf country at the time and not in Iraq. The people were friendly and helpful and there is definitely money and development there with the potential for much more. There is a ton of ancient (and a more sobering modern) history. Unfortunately because of security and infrastructure issues, most of the area is still inaccessible to visitors.”

and unfortunately Skylar only feels “sad, bad and mad”

Stay tuned for more #FridayFotos. Next week is Ireland.

View more photos of Iraq here..

For more of my travel photography, find me on Instagram. See you there!

Savannah Grace