- I hope you send message because Iraq is very safe.
And media now, and media, some say Iraq world war.
No, Iraq respect all people, all religion.
No different. You human, me human.
- Let's talk about Iraq.
- 20 years ago.
- We have no ambition in Iraq.
- Deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.
(bombs exploding)
- The safety of America depends on the outcome
of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.
- [Hassan] Saddam was threatening the US
with weapons of mass destruction?
- Yes. Nuclear weapon.
Nuclear weapon.
- That's news to me, I'm sorry.
- [Reporter] That turned out not to be true.
- [Reporter] No chemical, nuclear or biological weapons.
- [Reporter] A rebellion against US occupation.
- [Reporter] The Shias, who had taken over the government
began oppressing the Sunnis.
- Iraq.
- [Reporter] Became fertile territory
for the American's greater enemy.
- [Reporter] They didn't just want to kick America out,
they wanted to set up an Islamic state.
- [Reporter] Prime Minister came to Mosul
to declare the city liberated.
(dramatic music)
- [Iraqi Person] Welcome to Iraq.
- [Iraqi Person] Very safe.
We'd like to show you our culture, our...
- So good morning.
I'm checking out today from Baghdad.
Really one of my favorite places.
People were absolutely incredible, I saw yesterday.
We are going now to very, very special place
that you probably studied in primary school, like me.
This place is called Babylon.
There's a lot of history, temples, archaeological sites.
So I'm very, very, very excited to see all the things
that I've seen in books, now in person.
(upbeat music)
We are now in the ancient city of Babylon.
This is the first thing we see inside, 605 BC.
So this is technically the southern palace.
Only the foundations remain original.
So let me show you something interesting.
You see the foundations here, this is original,
but obviously this part is not original.
And you can see in some of these bricks,
inscriptions with Saddam
because he actually contributed
to build some of these walls.
Unfortunately you can see some rubbish today here.
Sometimes people behave this way, not only in Iraq,
but I think in many places in the world.
But anyway, very, very, very interesting to understand.
And also you need to have a lot of imagination
in some of these places,
because there's not a lot of original stuff left.
You can always get this little map and explore inside.
This here has inscriptions in Aramaic.
That's crazy, I've never seen any inscription
in that language.
One of the things that you can see here as well
is that this place are constantly in excavation.
Honestly, probably we don't even know half of the story
about this place.
So the lion now is like a statue.
Back in the days there were lions protecting the city.
Can you explain me why people normally ask
for photos with the tourists and all that?
- He's saying Iraqis do that because there is no difference
between people and religions and culture.
- To show unity.
- [Tour Guide] To show unity.
- When media, some say Iraqi war, war, war.
No, Iraqi respect all people, all religion.
No different. You human, me human.
The God, he wants this pure, the heart.
If this is good, then the religion is good.
- So now this is very, very, very special.
We are in Saddam's abandoned palace.
Let's go to upper floors.
Obviously there's no maintenance here or anything
but it looks absolutely impressive.
Look at the ceiling.
Wow.
This was kind of a living room.
Today we see just graffitis.
What is crazy, to think this was Saddam's palace.
Wow.
You can see the blue, so this was original.
You can still see graffitis in pretty much every room.
But the flooring from my perspective
is actually fairly new.
When you think you've seen it all
and you come to this part of the palace,
you meet kids and you start playing football
inside the palace.
How crazy is that?
Now, heading for some quick lunch.
I love this.
- You know when you go to a restaurant
you tell them I want a soda.
They tell you, okay, we have Pepsi, Cola and this.
This is how important it is.
- Finding coffee in this area
is a little bit more complicated because people like tea.
There's coffee shops, but generally it's more tea.
So I'm on a mission to find coffee now.
[Ale] Messi or Ronaldo?
- Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi.
(people laugh)
- [Ale] Messi or Ronaldo?
- Messi. - [Ale] Messi?
- Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi.
- [Ale] Messi or Ronaldo?
- Messi.
- So I've found a coffee shop.
This guy's amazing coffee shop here.
Look at this, they put the condensed milk,
the coffee, and then you shake it and you drink it.
- It's amazing.
- Amazing.
[Ale] Messi or Cristiano?
- Ronaldo.
- [Ale] Oh.
- I will tell you something
and you will see how people are here in Iraq.
Do you wanna take any money?
We say, we're gonna pay you.
Nothing, no money, absolutely nothing.
It's not that he's making a lot of money
but still he's giving you everything he has
and he's telling you, welcome to my city,
welcome to my country.
Thank you very much for your hospitality, for the coffee.
This is how people in Iraq really are, like you.
(speaks Arabic language)
- Thank you. (speaks Arabic language)
So we've just arrived in this place called Najaf in Iraq.
This is a very holy place.
There's a mosque nearby called the Mosque of Ali.
Every year millions of pilgrims come and visit this mosque.
So let's go and try to explore the area, try to get inside.
And then after that, let's go to the bazaar.
By the way, I'm not able to bring my camera now
so I would probably bring a small,
you know, GoPro or my phone.
Anyway, let's go and explore.
We're in a car park at the very top of the building.
This is the largest cemetery in Iraq,
one of the largest in the world.
Look at this, this is insane.
I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in my life.
So now I need to get rid of my shoes,
gonna put them here.
Because they are about to pray this area here
where people are actually cleaning themselves
before entering the mosque.
All right, so we are leaving the holy area now
and we go to the bazaar.
I'm so excited to see what these guys have to offer.
I love sweets.
They don't take payments at all. Zero.
Again, this is the people of Iraq.
What I found here, my favorite dessert in the world, halva.
In Argentina, we have it.
- [Ale] Messi or Cristiano?
- Messi.
- [Ale] Always Messi. - Messi.
The screensaver is just literally Messi.
They are giving oranges for free.
Orange is for free.
This is also Iraq, as you can see, also Iraq.
Generosity, next level.
Everything.
I am speechless.
This is coffee, right? Coffee with milk?
(speaks Arabic language)
- [Stallkeeper] Next, next.
- Wow, look at this.
This is not a proper country in the Middle East
if they don't sell dates.
And this is the milk that everyone loves.
(shopper speaks foreign language)
- Huh?
(shopper speaks Arabic language)
- [Shopper] Two kisses.
- Two kisses. - That's how you say hi.
- This is like an old book market
and I guess a lot of holy books as well
because you have a mosque literally opposite.
Right, it's getting late.
It's almost 11:00 PM, the market is closing.
Everything is closing here.
What can I say?
It was really spectacular day today,
with Babylon, with Najaf.
Honestly, like, I recommend everyone
to come to these places and see yourself
how incredible these cities are and people in Iraq.
Anyway, I go to bed now, I'm super tired,
and tomorrow, another day, super packed.
We're going to a new city,
explore more places, engage with more people,
try to understand life here in Iraq.
Yeah, hear everything from the locals
so I don't need to explain too much.
Anyway guys, see you in another episode.
Thank you so much for watching as always
and take care.
(gentle music)