Have you heard the news that Erbil is slated (by whom I don't know) to become the next Dubai of the Middle East? And supposedly Nasdak (a mall complex built by 3 Armenian-Iraqi brothers, nothing to do with stock indexes) is proof of development in that direction. It took a flock of cranes and a billion dollars to build this complex at the foot of the Citadel. So on the afternoon of the 15th, we headed off to the check out what had happened over the summer.
While some aspects of the compliex were impressive; there were escalators to facilitate better access to the 800 shops... and stairs to reach the upper 400 office spaces, I am not convinced that I will give up shopping in the bazaar to come here. The shops were smaller in size than some of those in the bazaar and the merchandise didn't appear to be any better in quality. Plus, where will the international traffic come from? There aren't that many affordable flights into Erbil from the outside world...
Anyway, here is a view of the Nasdak from the Bazaar...
And a final view from the Citadel... a huge ugly ship-like structure (air craft carrier perhaps?) floating on waves of crumbly bricks capped with satellite dishes.
While some aspects of the compliex were impressive; there were escalators to facilitate better access to the 800 shops... and stairs to reach the upper 400 office spaces, I am not convinced that I will give up shopping in the bazaar to come here. The shops were smaller in size than some of those in the bazaar and the merchandise didn't appear to be any better in quality. Plus, where will the international traffic come from? There aren't that many affordable flights into Erbil from the outside world... 
Anyway, here is a view of the Nasdak from the Bazaar... 
And a final view from the Citadel... a huge ugly ship-like structure (air craft carrier perhaps?) floating on waves of crumbly bricks capped with satellite dishes.
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