The date-palm groves cleave to the banks of the Shatt al Arab so that it looks from the air like a long green finger pointing north to the confluence of the twin rivers, where a small town squats on the very corner at which, in a swirl of eddies and currents, the Tigris meets the Euphrates. The town is called Qurna. Because of its strategic position Qurna has been the scene of conflicts for centuries.

Qurna is a pleasant little place with a good rest-house (with a bar and restaurant) at the very tip of the point where the rivers meet. The view is remarkable. The contrast of the lush south of .Iraq with the rest of a country which is often too bare can be seen very well at Qurna- and even better on side-trips up the rivers.

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