More Iraq from the air - urban

I posted a few pictures of the rural side of Iraq already. Here are some pictures of the more developed areas of Baghdad and some outer towns. These pictures show a range of housing from large and relatively nice with trees to more densely packed smaller housing. The one thing in common is that all the houses have flat roofs, usually tiled, which are used as an additional "room" of the house. In the winter, you mostly see clothing drying on the roof, but in the summer, apparently, people spend a lot of time in the evenings up there, to include sleeping there instead of inside (no air conditioning).

The first photo (left) is a relatively nice neighborhood. The next (right) shows a big open dirt area likely used for gatherings and soccer. The third (next left), though blurry (helo moving too fast) shows a satellite town of Baghdad, the houses are more spread out but everything in between is dirt. Next down (right) are apartment buildings in central Baghdad. Vertical housing or apartments are actually rare and only really exist in downtown Baghdad, everything else is lateral sprawl.









To provide the counterpoint, next (on the left) is one of the palaces in Baghdad, now used as a governmental building. I also can't forget to include a bombed-out building, because there are plenty of those in downtown Baghdad. So the last picture (right) captures that for you. I am not sure what that building was, but halfway up, you can see the damage through the haze. You will also notice that the buildings around it are unharmed. I am still working to post everything from my trip last week, only a few more posts to go.