One of our favorite places to visit!
"Amedy, a historic hilltop town in northern Iraq rich with unique monuments and intangible traditions, is strongly connected with its surrounding natural landscape. The city was likely occupied long before the first written references to the “town of the Medes” when it was captured by the Assyrian royal family, nearly 3,000 years ago. The site has drawn the attention of the region’s rulers since, likely because of its striking position—a half-mile long limestone plateau ringed by 200-foot (60-meter) vertiginous cliffs and wedged between twin mountain ranges. For most of its history, it was only accessible by two staircases leading to heavily fortified gates. Even with modern road access, the city remains a beautiful and formidable natural fortification."
