Question: It is often said that Nibbana is unconditioned. But isn't Nibbana to be attained through practice of the Noble Eightfold Path (abandoning desire, meditation, realizing paticcasamuppada etc)? Aren't those practices conditions for Nibbana? What am I missing here :) ?

Answer: 
The practice of the eightfold noble path leads to the *experience* of nibbāna, just like the act of adverting the mind to the eye door leads to seeing light. Light, the object of seeing, is saṅkhata (conditioned), but nibbāna, the object of supermundane consciousness, is asaṅkhata (unconditioned). So nibbāna isn't the result of the eightfold noble path, the experience of it is.
I do not have sufficent knowledge to answer the question in a satisfactory way.

So i will instead point you to some great ressources regarding your question.

The first one is a book called [*"On the Nature of Nibbana"*](http://www.saraniya.com/books/mahasi-sayadaw/pdf/mahasi_sayadaw-1964_on_the_nature_of_nibbana.pdf) by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw.

In this book Nibbana is being discussed e.g. *"What is Nibbana and what is the meaning of it?, Mental Formation and Nibbana, The Nature and Attributes of Nibbana and many more things regarding Nibbana"*.

The second source is a great audio dhamma talk called [*"Nibbana"*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNMqqmZI6E) by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Here is also some text material on *Nibbana* by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. A short quote from the section [*"Nibbana is an existing reality"*](http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/nibbanaReal.htm):

> 
> "Regarding the nature of Nibbana, the question is often asked: Does Nibbana signify only extinction of the defilements and liberation from samsara or does it signify some reality existing in itself? Nibbana is not only the destruction of defilements and the end of samsara but a reality transcendent to the entire world of mundane experience, a reality transcendent to all the realms of phenomenal existence.
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> The Buddha refers to Nibbana as a 'dhamma'. For example, he says "of all dhammas, conditioned or unconditioned, the most excellent dhamma, the supreme dhamma is, Nibbana". 'Dhamma' signifies actual realities, the existing realities as opposed to conceptual things. Dhammas are of two types, conditioned and unconditioned. A conditioned dhamma is an actuality which has come into being through causes or conditions, something which arises through the workings of various conditions. The conditioned dhammas are the five aggregates: material form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. The conditioned dhammas, do not remain static. They go through a ceaseless process of becoming. They arise, undergo transformation and fall away due to its conditionality.
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> However, the unconditioned dhamma is not produced by causes and conditions. It has the opposite characteristics from the conditioned: it has no arising, no falling away and it undergoes no transformation. Nevertheless, it is an actuality, and the Buddha refers to Nibbana as an unconditioned Dhamma."
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May this be of some help to you.

Lanka