Akre (Aqrah)

Akre (also spelled Aqrah or Aqra) is a historic market town built dramatically into and against the cliffs of a mountain valley about 90 kilometres east of Duhok. The old quarter's houses ascend the rockface in terraces, their foundations sometimes continuing directly from the living rock — a building style that developed over centuries of occupation by various peoples, including Assyrian, Kurdish, and Jewish communities.

The town is renowned for its Nowruz celebrations: on the evening of the Spring Equinox, torches are lit from the castle summit and carried by relay down through the old quarter in a procession that is one of the most distinctive in the region. The annual Nowruz fire-relay draws visitors from across the Kurdistan Region.

Akre's Thursday market (bazaar) has been a regional trading point for centuries and is still the busiest day of the week. The old covered bazaar, the 16th-century hammam, and the castle ruins above the town are the main historical points. The surrounding valleys produce walnuts, figs, and pomegranates — available in the market from September.