[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
all right guys we've made it up to one
of saddam hussein's many palaces this
one overlooks the ancient civilization
of babylon obviously as we said before
we saw it
from the ancient city now we're up here
check out the view of the city
unbelievable
he definitely knew how to pick a spot
even if he had to uh you know
move an entire
ancient
town of people
and demolish their homes so yeah he
destroyed the village you used to live
here yes
and you said i'm destroyed yes we're
about here 120 house
when 120 house levels in the 19th
1986 eighties okay
this is the people who used to live in
the village where did they go now round
and babies
that time saddam gift
yes he said he gave you money i'm
destroying your house but here's some
money so were people very angry or were
they okay with it because of the money
no some people angry before saddam
because
brilliant here grandfather live father
live here me and gary that time because
me that time destroyed this
village me cry here
yes my mom visits one moment two months
visit this place
no yes
how how old were you when that happened
me
that time in nineteen years you're done
twenty twenty yeah
okay me
the whole thing like in babylonia before
oh ancient buildings
so the the village
was built he said um
so if you
see that tree
surrounded with concrete and just like
protection
this was saddam's special tree palm tree
here and uh
he actually appointed one of the farmers
just to take her
to take care of that tree that was his
whole job just one tree yeah yeah he
actually visited this place only one
time in his life saddam during the
construction during the construction he
came here to visit that place and he
just like
uh that tree and that's it
so random
this palace when it was completed he
never visited he never
he never stayed here he never saw it
completed no when was it only in videos
maybe because of the invasion or because
he just didn't no no
well it didn't have the time or
yeah this palace too many passes yeah it
doesn't have time and the palace it has
it had a lot of
people worked here maintain it uh the
food was all all the time already
preparing everything just if he decides
to exactly exactly oh my god exactly and
when did when was it completed do you
know
uh
1988 oh 89
like at the end of the war the end of
the iran iraq yeah
but he and after to after 1991 after the
quake operation invasion and liberation
yeah
uh he was very scared
so
he was uh
to maintain his security so that's why
he doesn't show in public places that
much
uh okay so he kind of went into hiding
yeah not enough fully but yeah he was
paranoid yeah this is uh these are two
uh letters of the arabic alphabet this
is sad and ha means saddam hussein
so
decorating the whole i was with two two
arabic alphabet started
basically putting your names everywhere
he put it he carved his initials yeah
into the wall
and this is ha
ha ha ssh essentially by the way um
when he was young he was kind of
kind of fascinated by stalin
so he he used to like write and read
about his choreography and he did a
pretty good job of imitating the
mustache look at the mustache it looks
like stalin yeah it's like a middle
eastern star guys he he carved his own
face into this wall and kind of a soviet
communist style
mural here
unbelievable oh my gosh i mean and
there's another one over there on the
walls
i mean another one yeah he he's carved
himself into the building literally in
stone
all right let's go inside
so after 2003
after the american invasion obviously
saddam was deposed
uh from what i've heard most the vast
vast majority of iraqis
hated saddam and were happy when he was
overthrown
that doesn't mean that they're happy
with everything that the americans have
done in and to this country since then
so
if you
see behind me there's a ton of graffiti
this place as soon as saddam was deposed
was basically looted
and
there's a ton of graffiti i mean 20
years worth almost at this point
it's
it's pretty surreal because the the
structure and i mean look you still got
the old chandelier up there it's also
grand it's it's an insane view of the
ancient city of babylon but the the
whole place is deserted there's no
furniture there's
there's nothing in here it's empty and
it's covered in graffiti so it's it's
a unique and an eerie scene
here's the grand staircase guys
it is
closed off
with a ton of barbed wire
let me get my light out
oh my goodness
[Music]
and of course
view
sea of palm trees totally
and this is the euphrates river it's
part of the africa part of the euphrates
river here
gosh
and again he only came here once during
construction and never after it was
completed he had palaces all over the
country are they are all of the palaces
like this now like looted and kind of
griffin no no actually in barcelona i
think they make it like as a museum okay
cool yeah this is almost more
interesting to see exactly what's
happened to it since like it was left
yes uh some people like some activists
here
they're trying to
force the local government and even the
central government in baghdad to make it
as a museum
so preserve it like this
yeah we'll just
of course we're going to keep a lot of
parts of it even the parts that have
like saddam hussein's touch yeah because
you know we you can't deny the part of
the history yeah yeah so it needs a lot
of money so i hope in the next three or
four years this place would be like an
amazing museum
it's uh it's surreal being able to just
walk in here and explore it like
independently though yeah especially for
americans
yeah no kidding i mean imagine you have
been here like 20 years ago
yeah i was seven years old but yeah it's
crazy here are the elevator shafts
just
everything in here totally destroyed
upstairs is closed off again
let's just
see what it looks like
hmm
got to say guys this for me is
one of the
most mind-blowing insane places
surreal places i've ever been in my life
righty guys so we've just come to the
modern day town uh here in the babylon
region it's called gila and we're gonna
get some lunch i think we're going for
grill kebab that kind of thing so let's
go take a look
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so guys we got a little meze platter
here it looks like we got some chickpeas
and yogurt we got some hummus in the
middle
veggies chickpea salad a lot of
chickpeas which is amazing
i think it's a fruit salad that looks
like a banana here
[Music]
we're gonna get a big plate to share of
a bunch of different kinds of meat
ali how excited are you i'm very hungry
angry
hungry angry hungry
i am just hanging out
okay this is just a spoonful of hummus
[Music]
wow
you know i don't i don't feel anything
that is honestly one of the tastiest
hummus hummuses i've ever had
so good
wow and i'm not just saying that for
this video that is so delicious you can
literally just eat it by the spoonful
it's like twice the size of dog's head i
have to zoom out
look how big it is
let's try a little bit
fresh out of the oven we might go take a
look at it after we eat bread in a rack
very good a plus time for a little dunk
in the uh nice little tomatoey
spicy soup
meaty too it tastes like lamb take your
hands off that hummus you this is fine
give it here
lots of olives
i was never a big fan of olives in
america you know growing up but i really
love them in
the middle east and turkey
oh my gosh
let me just put my hand on there to show
you guys how big this tray is
yeah sure i mean
yeah you know what everything is
actually
all right let's try the chicken first
huh
[Music]
when i think of liver i think mushy and
like
i don't know that's like what i grew up
thinking but this sliver is is just like
beef to me the texture and it's
delicious anyway that's enough filming
i'm really hungry and it's time to eat
see you afterwards and as with most
meals
in the region we're going to end the
meal with a little chai
there's about a quarter inch of sugar on
the bottom there
delicious
so sweet
pure sugar actually it's nice on a day
like this gives you a little jolt
because it's so hot out and like
exhausting kind of
it's really nice
this is where they're cooking the bread
wow
this is where the magic happens guys
that's a big mixer
we've just got tons and tons and tons of
what i think is flour and maybe other
ingredients look at this wow and these
are the ovens where they go
and that
is how that incredible bread that you
saw earlier comes to be
pretty amazing guys before we leave i
saw something uh up on the counter here
that i want to try
i think this is some kind of a palette
cleanser
they look like little rocks to me
chew it
okay let's see
here we go
whoa
that was a weird flavor
oh i don't like that at all
it tastes like shoe polish or something
that was interesting i think it's some
kind of palette cleanser but it tastes
like
some kind of a
industrial
cleaner product or something
what is that called
it's actually a gum well it doesn't have
a flavor you just it has a flavor all
right
it doesn't
to me it had a strong flavor
not good
what's it called
we call it water
water
water gum
that's what that was because it doesn't
taste like anything just i don't know
what's the point of it to be honest
it doesn't taste like water that's for
sure
jay you should try it i've had this
before and it's not good taste you have
the right yeah just just take a few
no
[Music]
alrighty guys that was incredible
exploring babylon it's just
mind-blowing the amount of access you
have here in iraq to these ancient
incredible sites and saddam's palace i
mean
i'll remember that for the rest of my
life that was one of the coolest things
i've ever done so
we are continuing on now we are on the
road to karbala beautiful
holy city for shia muslims
and it's going to be incredible i am so
excited going to have a lot more details
about that in my next video from karbala
so stay tuned guys and if you're
enjoying the videos please please please
don't forget to subscribe it really
helps me out and keeps me traveling and
making more videos for all of you so
thank you guys so much for watching and
i will see you in the next one bye
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