Half-Day tour of Basra, Iraq

 December 3, 2025 – Half-Day tour of Basra

Our tour wouldn’t start until 11am, so the morning was ours. We used it for a leisurely breakfast in the buffet restaurant. I had my first sample of Iraqi tea which would become a morning staple. I didn’t go full Iraqi as they add milk and I prefer it without. Fred preferred eggs, but I was glad to find ful medames (fava beans) with a selection of toppings; cumin, chopped tomatoes, chopped parsley, and chopped onions and some labneh on top. I had been introduced to it in Egypt. There were fruits, cheeses, falafel, pastries…. After breakfast we had plenty of time to work out in the gyms (Fred had a few men in his gym, I was the lone woman in mine), then shower and dress for our first Iraqi adventure.

In the lobby we met our guide for the duration of the tour, Sylvie, and our guide for the day, Hannah. Our companions for the tour were a couple from Canada, 2 couples from California, a woman also from California, and a woman from New York City. We would discover that we had an easy going, fun, and very interesting group of travelers. We were told we would need our passports each day as there would be multiple checkpoints, some just for the sites and some as we travel between cities.

The first stop was a check point so that we could enter the Basra Museum. Even with pre-authorization, the officers required passports and checked authorizations. Dylan had warned us that nothing was assured, but all went well. The musuem was housed in a former palace of Saddam Hussein (it is rumored he had 100 palaces around the country). There were galleries for artifacts from Basra, Babylon, Sumer, and Assyrian era. The museum opened in 2019 after an extensive restoration. Much of the original artifacts had been looted during the Gulf War and what they were able to recover was on display.

On the grounds of the museum were replicas of Marshland boats, Mudhif (house), furniture, etc. It was all part of a project to relearn and teach the skills to make these traditional items. Saddam Hussein had drained the marshlands in retaliation for the Marsh Arabs rebelling against his regime. It created an ecological disaster in addition to displacing the Marsh Arabs. Today, the marshlands are being slowly restored and some of the Marsh Arabs are returning.

Lunch at Naranja, a Syrian-Lebanese Restaurant was next. The food was amazing – and way too much of it. Salads, kababs, rice, babaganoush, hummus, labneh, fruit, pastries… We were so full we ended up not eating at dinner that night.

A small sample of our lunch

On the bus Hannah passed out abayas to all the women and gave us a lesson in how to were them. We would need them for the next 2 stops: a mosque Az-Zubayr and Imam ‘Ali. These were only two of the many significant pilgrimage sights we would be seeing on this trip.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at Az-Zubayr and we were the only visitors. We donned our abayas but both men and women were able to enter together. We were greeted and guided by the mosque caretaker.  

Az-Zubayr is a shrine at the site of the Islamic “Camel Wars” a first Islamic civil war in which Aisha fought from a camel. It is the tomb of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam a companion of Muhammad and a commander in his army who was killed in this fight. The shrine also included the tombs of Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Hassan al-Basri. Our guides spoke of the division of Islam in to 2 sects: Sunnis and Shi’a. Sunnis believed in the traditional line of Caliphs, Shi’a believed ‘Ali, Mohammad’s son-in-law, should have been appointed Caliph.  

From there we drove to Imam ‘Ali where it is believed ‘Ali prayed prior to his death. It is the first mosque outside Saudi Arabia. The grounds outside had vendors preparing for the crowds of pilgrims that were expected in the days to come. At the mosque, the men and women had separate entrances and our shoes were left at the entrance. It was early evening, but there was a gathering of women and children in the women’s side. They were very friendly and a few tried to talk with us. Our guide, Sylvie, spoke Arabic, so she translated for us.

It was 6:45pm when we returned to the hotel. We made a quick stop in our rooms then gathered in the “Indian” restaurant for dinner and to formally meet our local guide, Dylan (who would be with us for the rest of the trip), and get a rundown of the tour agenda.

Dylan’s command of English was amazing and American. Turns out he learned it from video games!! Sylvia had lead tours in Egypt and Iran. She and I would share an appreciation for Egyptian culture. The knowledge and energy of these two guides would add so much to our experience.