Baghdad Express - Emily Garthwaite

The night train from Baghdad to Basra is all that remains of a one-time rich heritage of passenger rail travel in Iraq. An early tram system was replaced in 1914 by an Ottoman track running north from Baghdad, and eight years later the invading British constructed a narrow-gauge line to connect the southern port city of Basra.

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Basra train station

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Basra train station

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Hashim Hussaini, a writer and historian inside Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad, Iraq. Since the cafe opened over a century ago, the establishment has become a home for Baghdad’s intellectual life, drawing poets, artists and politicians to its wooden benches and photo-lined walls.

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Hashim Hussaini, a writer and historian inside Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad, Iraq. Since the cafe opened over a century ago, the establishment has become a home for Baghdad’s intellectual life, drawing poets, artists and politicians to its wooden benches and photo-lined walls.

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