STRIFE'S A BEACH For a little fun in the sun, we recommend SPF 600 and a flak jacket
The following is an excerpt from the March/April issue of Radar, on newsstands now. To get a risk-free copy of the print magazine delivered to your doorstep, click here!
Sunny, historic Baghdad has been a tourist hot spot for more than a thousand years, but lately the city's reputation has been sullied by gloomy pessimists who insist on describing the place as a "living hell" or an "anarchic slaughterhouse." This dire view is shared by the 50 or so Western journalists still quartered in Iraq, who spend their days fortified in depressing bunkers surrounded by trigger-happy armed guards. But leave it to the good time gang at the conservative National Review to pick up on a little-noticed trend: Last fall, in a piece titled "Good News From Iraq," the magazine gleefully reported that "tourists are now returning" to visit the country's cultural sites. So for those irrepressibly upbeat ambassadors of democracy who'd like to get a head start on the throngs of Baghdad-bound spring breakers, Radar presents a guide to letting loose in the city.
Royal Jordanian offers daily flights from Amman, but brace yourself for a steep, corkscrew descent to evade small-arms fire. (If you're prone to losing your lunch, best bring a sandwich for refueling later—the airport's Bob Hope Dining Facility is now closed.) Hire an armored car for the five-mile trip into the city on the infamous Highway of Death. The going rate is $2,400, not including tax and tip. If you elect to ride in a "soft" vehicle, stay low: Try curling up on the floor with a good book or religious talisman.
Choose comfy digs—you'll be spending lots of time there. As one Time magazine staffer glumly notes, "there really isn't much room for Westerners in Baghdad anymore, except for the fortified archipelago that is your hotel." Decent water pressure and reliable electricity pass as luxuries, but several spots still offer a (mostly) solid wall between your cot and incoming mortar rounds.
The hardy Al-Hamra houses the largest concentration of working journalists in Baghdad, as well as a hardened crew of gun-toting military contractors. Rooms are clean, though the pool is no longer operational. Baghdad's tallest standing structure, the Hotel Ishtar (formerly the Ishtar Sheraton) is often referred to as the Missile Magnet, for reasons obvious to anyone who's glimpsed its crumbling facade. Rooms cost just $36 per night, and occupancy hovers in the single digits. The Palestine Hotel (formerly Le Meridien Palestine), still technically open, is also now mostly deserted; parties on its roof overlooking Firdos Square—like the one thrown when U.S. forces famously toppled a statue of Saddam in 2003—are a thing of the past. Not seriously attacked since October 2003, the Al-Rashid, nestled on the west bank of the Tigris River in the Green Zone, is one of the safest options. Steady power makes it a popular business meeting spot.
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