Silk Road for Seafarers, a photo from Al Basrah, South

Photographer's Note

Travels on the Silk Road:

Basrah lies on the Shatt el-Arab, the conjunction of the rivers Nahr al Furat (Euprates) and Nahr Djilah (Tigris). In historical times an important Arab sea trade all over the world started from here. Sind-i-bad the Seafarer, well known from oriental tales, passed through Basrah before reaching the open sea (and "discovering" the giant bird Aepyornis alias "Bird Roq" in Madagaskar ! ). Today Basrah still reels from three terrible wars in 40 years as you will notice yourself in Map:view; I pointed the view to Al Tanoah pontoon bridge, the imbilical cord to Iran. There is a gigantic amount of reconstruction to do. Fortunately that does not keep these youngsters from smiling and cheering !

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Critiques | Translate

ACL1978 (7511) 2013-05-08 14:53

Great shot from an incredibly important geographical spot, Dietrich. The boat stands out well against the gray mist here, and it is nice to see these guys enjoying the ride!

Thanks for pointing me toward the bridge, allowing me to look it up and read the story of its reopening, which is at least a somewhat good sign for the region.

Andrew