But today, we are alone and as the late afternoon sun turns the dull brown mountains a richer, deeper shade of ochre it is time to head down and start the long drive back to Erbil and the complexities of modern Iraq.

FORBES: Iraq - but not as you know it.

Lovely colors abound: terra cotta, ochre, pink, white and yellow accented by gray, beige, black, green and brown shutters.

WSJ: Rome's Piazza Navona: Perfection, Squared | Masterpiece by Willard Spiegelman