The Erbil Citadel is the most extraordinary site in Iraqi Kurdistan — a great oval mound rising 25–30 metres above the modern city on a mass of compacted human occupation that goes back at least six thousand years. From street level, the mudbrick facades of the old city on top of the mound look almost surreal: an entire urban layer perched above the noise of the modern city below, like a ship above a harbour.
Most of the citadel is unoccupied and under restoration, but you can walk through the main gate and wander the narrow lanes of the old quarter. The mudbrick architecture — houses built directly over earlier houses, sometimes incorporating ancient wall stubs — is extraordinary even in its dilapidated state. The Kurdish Textile Museum inside the citadel is worth visiting. The view from the edge of the mound over Erbil's modern streets is memorable, particularly at dusk when the call to prayer rises from the mosques below.