Iraq’s $2 Breakfast That Fuels 20 Million Pilgrims!!

0:00 I'm about to eat the most famous Iraqi kebabs in Carbala.

0:04 And along with trying one of the best kebabs I've ever had in my life,

0:08 that kebab just melts in your mouth.

0:11 We'll [music] find out why over 20 million pilgrims visit Carbala every year.

0:17 You could just stand in here in awe.

0:26 Try some of the local street food.

0:30 And later on, we'll find out what it's

0:32 like to visit the ancient city of Babylon.

0:35 But first, what is Iraq's breakfast of champions?

0:40 And this is the spot for a special breakfast dish this morning.

0:43 So, we're at a local restaurant and we came

0:45 here to eat a dish which is called biled Belhan.

0:50 And it's a local, especially a breakfast dish in Iraq.

0:53 They have the You can hear the raging fire going in the background.

0:56 It's like a jet flame that they cook it on.

0:58 and we're going to see how they prepare it.

1:01 The fire is absolutely blazing.

1:04 Okay, so it all begins with bread.

1:06 Oh, he chucks it into the soup.

1:08 And that's like a a broth from fava beans.

1:11 This is quite a dish.

1:12 And it's quite incredible, impressive to see it being made.

1:15 But he takes the whole uh sheets of bread.

1:18 He dumps them into fava bean juice.

1:20 It's like the broth of fava beans.

1:22 He soaks them.

1:23 Then he puts it into your bowl and kind of does a hand

1:25 massage and squeezes it and breaks it up saturated with the fava bean juice.

1:29 Then he adds on the fava beans on top of that.

1:32 Then he heats up some molten ghee.

1:34 So like uh butter.

1:36 Heats up the butter the ghee until it's molten hot.

1:40 And then he pours that on.

1:41 And then after that he cooks an omelette and puts an omelette on top.

1:45 Oh, now he's making like 10 in a row.

1:55 Wow, that's a hot fire.

2:01 Whoa.

2:02 Flip over the egg.

2:06 So, it's an omelette.

2:09 Wow, that is so hot.

2:15 What a dish.

2:16 And it's quite a quite a w Oh, more omelette goes on top.

2:21 But just sizzling omelette.

2:22 Look at that.

2:22 That omelette is boiling.

2:23 This one is ours.

2:26 Oh, we got extra omelette.

2:28 Yes.

2:29 Wow.

2:30 Shukran.

2:31 I think that one is ours.

2:35 So, we're sitting down.

2:35 This is a very popular breakfast spot, breakfast dish, and it looks so hearty.

2:40 And I've never seen this exact procedure done before.

2:43 I love how they soak the bread in the bean juice.

2:45 Served with onions, served with the Are these the orange lemons?

2:49 The orange lemons.

2:50 And they you I guess you add so much

2:51 that they even give you a juicer on your table.

2:54 Okay, Muhammad.

2:56 How should we start?

2:58 I'll first squeeze on.

2:59 Oh, amazing.

3:01 I love the Iraqi lemon orange hybrids.

3:05 It's like the sourness of lemon plus the fragrance of an orange.

3:10 So, reach down.

3:11 Oh, I'm gonna go most mostly for that bread and fava beans first.

3:17 Oh, it's like fully saturated.

3:19 The bread is just broken down into like juiciness with the fava beans.

3:31 Good.

3:37 Oh, the starchiness of the beans.

3:40 The bread has absorbed all that broth, the bean broth.

3:44 And then you really taste the scorch of that ghee on top that's

3:48 just been heated to such a hot level that it just like scorches.

3:52 It scorches it and that brings out the flavor.

3:55 That's very good.

3:56 Very good.

3:56 Then you can mix in with the omelette.

3:58 You can chase with the onions and see what Muhammad does.

4:02 Oh, add some of the onions to the bite

4:05 and then that gives you like that refreshing touch.

4:07 Okay, for this one, I'll grab some of the omelette

4:09 to pair with that omelette with the onion.

4:13 Oh.

4:25 Mhm.

4:27 that's just saturated in the ghee and oil.

4:33 So hearty.

4:34 This is a type of dish that will give you energy for the entire day.

4:38 So we're adding on another thing which I've never heard of it,

4:40 but it's called betany or lambs.

4:42 It's an herb and it has this almost chamomile aroma to it, but it's not.

4:47 It's betton or lambs and that's also supposed

4:49 to aid in the digestion of the the fava beans.

4:52 That's going to another variation to try.

4:55 Okay, let's try it with the the lamb's ear.

4:58 Anything that's called lamb's ear, I'm happy to try.

5:04 Even though it's an herb.

5:07 M.

5:09 Yeah.

5:09 Gives it like this kind of bright floral flavor.

5:16 Good.

5:15 Very good.

5:16 Yeah.

5:16 That gives it a different a different herbal touch.

5:24 Very good.

5:25 What a breakfast.

5:26 Yeah, this is seriously good dish.

5:32 And I love how creamy those fava beans are.

5:39 So, that's the pro move.

5:43 Follow with the onion.

5:45 Muhammad hooking it up is a breakfast of champions.

6:05 This is great and a very popular place.

6:08 It's packed now.

6:12 And then with every good Iraqi meal, you got to finish with tea.

6:18 It's an absolute must.

6:20 and strong Iraqi tea as well.

6:22 Oh, it's so soothing.

6:24 What a breakfast.

6:24 I loved it.

6:25 It's such a good dish.

6:26 It's simple, but it's tasty and it's so filling.

6:35 Shukran.

6:36 Shukran.

6:37 Very good.

6:39 And again, the owner absolutely refused to take our payment.

6:44 Such a nice guy.

6:46 Uh top service, top breakfast for the breakfast of champions.

6:49 When you're in Carbala, this is the spot [music] and we're

7:04 on our way to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein,

7:07 which is the center point of Carbala.

7:10 It's a pilgrimage destination.

7:12 And people come from all over the world uh

7:14 to visit and to pay respect to Imam Hussein.

7:18 And that's also why Carbala is known as being

7:22 one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam.

7:25 And we're just getting our first glimpse

7:26 of the shrine with the golden dome shimmering, shining in the morning light.

7:32 And as we approach, there's just more and more people.

7:35 And one of the cool things is they have a lot of guys with push carts.

7:38 So you can hire them to push you all the way

7:40 to the shrine transportation because it's all pretty much foot traffic here.

7:45 This whole area there's a grand bazaar surrounding it

7:49 with shopping with food and then the entire area is home

7:53 to two different shrines but the main one is Imam Hussein

7:56 who was actually the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and he

8:00 was the son of Imam Ali who uh we visited

8:04 yesterday in Najaf where you can visit the shrine in Najaf

8:08 and just this entire area you can feel the the energy

8:13 and the buzz people all the time, 24 hours a day.

8:17 The mosaic and the architecture,

8:19 the colors, really impressive everywhere you look.

8:24 So, we've arrived kind of to the center.

8:26 There's actually two shrines here.

8:28 Uh, but it's one of the main pilgrimage destinations,

8:32 one of the biggest pilgrimage destinations in the world.

8:42 Wow.

8:42 Step inside.

8:43 It's already incredible the architecture and arches,

8:48 the turquoise and all the geometric patterns and shapes.

8:56 So you step inside and it's kind of the outer before you get to the shrine,

9:00 the outer area of worship and just you could just stand in here.

9:06 The geometric [music] patterns and Islamic calligraphy,

9:12 the chandeliers, it's impressive.

9:15 Breathtaking.

9:17 Wow.

9:21 [music] Oh, here's the shrine.

9:33 And now here is the shrine of Imam Hussein.

9:37 [music] Inside the mausoleum is absolutely breathtaking.

9:43 And again, like I mentioned yesterday at Najaf,

9:45 no matter what you believe or what religion you are,

9:49 it's a place of spirituality.

9:50 It's a place that will move you.

9:53 This there's also a lot of significance here because of the battle of Carbala.

9:58 He was also a symbol of human rights and a fight for justice.

10:12 Also within the shrine, actually just outside the shrine,

10:15 there's a central kitchen where they serve free meals.

10:18 And actually a lot of people uh offer

10:22 meals to people all the time throughout the year,

10:25 especially during the festivals.

10:26 And so they have a dining room on the other side.

10:29 But then this is the takeaway station.

10:30 In the dining room, I think we're not able to film there.

10:32 So we decided to get a takeaway

10:34 and try the the complimentary meal from the shrine,

10:38 which is going to be really special.

10:40 Got the the whole meal combination.

10:42 Comes with a piece of bread, a bread,

10:44 a roll plus the main dish, and then also a soda on the side.

10:47 and ready for the the reveal of the main dish of the day.

10:51 Oh, okay.

10:52 It's like a fish fish today.

10:54 Fish with rice.

10:54 The kind man who helped us and got us the meal,

10:57 he was saying that every day it's a different menu.

10:58 And so today we got it's like a fried fish with rice.

11:01 All right.

11:05 [laughter] Oh, that fish is really good.

11:10 Yeah.

11:12 Nice and salty with that batter around it.

11:14 Probably turmeric making it yellow.

11:16 Then all that flavor absorbs into the rice as well.

11:21 It's not only a meal,

11:23 but it's a meal that's blessed at the shrine and it's a meal

11:26 that symbolizes the Iraqi hospitality and sharing what you have with everyone.

11:34 So throughout the lanes of the bazaar surrounding the shrine,

11:38 there's market where you can buy just about

11:40 everything and there's a lot of fast food snacks,

11:42 people coming on the go, something to eat, fast food.

11:45 Uh, so I decided to try this falafel stall here.

11:48 Actually, he has a bunch of different fast foods,

11:49 but I'm going to try his falafel.

11:52 Okay, so he grabs the grabs the bread first.

11:56 In goes some of the the salad.

11:59 Drops in the falafel.

12:01 Oh, some of the the fries as well.

12:04 Some more salad.

12:05 Then we got to get the the sauce.

12:07 Yes.

12:10 Ambar sauce.

12:10 Okay.

12:11 Shukran.

12:13 So, it's served in the Iraqi Samoon bread with the falafel and the amba sauce,

12:16 which is it's a mango sauce, which is very popular to eat with falafel.

12:21 And then there's also some pickles here.

12:22 I'll go for some pickles.

12:24 And then you got the salad.

12:25 You got the falafel down here, the fries, and everything.

12:36 I love the Iraqi ama sauce.

12:38 That sour mango with the spices.

12:40 It's so good.

12:42 has this almost like bitter complexity to it with this sweetness.

12:46 Okay.

12:46 But you don't All the falafel stuck down in the bottom there.

12:49 You got to get to the falafel.

12:54 Now I got a nice bite of the falafel with the fries in there.

12:57 The Rocky falafel is usually chickpeas.

12:59 Yeah.

12:59 It's got to taste that crispiness, that crumbliness of the chickpeas,

13:02 but it's that amba sauce that really makes it for me.

13:10 And the Iraqi bread, too.

13:11 The simoon bread is really good.

13:14 It's kind of thick and chewy, so it really holds a lot.

13:18 Yeah, it's affordable.

13:19 It's tasty.

13:20 It's filling.

13:22 Really good.

13:23 Oh, and he has firewood burning the tea stall.

13:27 Oh, that firewood feels great.

13:29 Okay, Shukran.

13:32 Oh, the fire feels really nice.

13:34 But right next to where I ate the falafel,

13:36 he has a tea stall and he's burning logs there, keeping the the tea hot.

13:40 Again, after every meal, you need a cup of tea.

13:45 Oh, that's good.

13:46 Love it.

13:47 I love the tea culture, the hospitality that goes with it.

13:51 Oh, man.

13:52 Shukran.

13:53 Thank you very much, Shukran.

13:54 Shukran.

13:55 Thank you.

13:55 Oh, man.

13:55 He was so nice as well.

13:57 Again, he wouldn't let us pay for the tea.

14:01 And that's some quality strong tea.

14:07 [music] I wasn't going to leave Carbala without

14:08 trying a legendary iconic restaurant for kebabs.

14:11 So, we're going to try kebabs quickly for lunch

14:14 and then after that we're going to head on to Babylon.

14:18 We made it to the legendary als kebab.

14:21 This is one of the most famous kebab shops in all of uh Carbala.

14:25 And you just look at the cabinet full of lamb, full of sheep.

14:29 And then they have a whole another cabinet full of the sheep

14:31 organs as well with the call fat with the liver.

14:33 And then there's just people hanging out all over.

14:36 There's grills going.

14:37 There's tea stalls.

14:38 This is a kebab paradise.

14:40 Yeah, it's action-packed energy.

14:42 All the organs, the liver, the call fat is ready.

14:44 That's going to be served on a tray.

14:45 And then on the other side is where they're making the minced meat, the kebabs.

14:49 This is the organ section.

14:50 All the fresh liver.

14:51 This is all lamb.

14:53 All lamb.

14:54 Sheep liver.

14:56 Okay.

14:56 Liver goes on.

14:57 Call fat goes on.

15:00 Oh, that call fat is just scorching in the fire.

15:04 Very good.

15:05 Very good.

15:06 It's good.

15:08 Very good.

15:10 Hi.

15:10 Hello.

15:10 How are you?

15:11 Very good.

15:11 Thank you.

15:12 So, they're making all the bread.

15:14 Everything is made fresh.

15:16 So, again, he slaps out that bread onto the pillow into the tan.

15:22 Okay.

15:23 Chukran.

15:24 Chakran.

15:26 Welcome.

15:26 Thank you.

15:26 Okay.

15:26 And now we move over to the kebabs.

15:30 Look at this mountain.

15:31 Everything is they're getting ready to serve kebabs by the masses now.

15:35 The kebab master.

15:36 Someone say mix up that.

15:37 Yes.

15:38 Hello from Iraq.

15:40 Shakran.

15:40 Shakran.

15:41 Thank you very much.

15:45 You can see that mix of meat is quite fatty as well.

15:49 Quite a heavy amount.

15:50 Yes.

15:50 Here's meat and beef.

15:52 Meat and beef.

15:52 Oh.

15:56 Oh.

15:56 All the lambs are just stacked up.

16:00 Wow.

16:02 Okay.

16:03 An insanely hot fire.

16:06 Burn off your hands.

16:07 You have to have iron hands, man.

16:10 Oh, that fire is raging hot.

16:12 And those kebabs.

16:13 Yeah.

16:13 They're just slicing off.

16:15 They have all the lambs just lined up.

16:17 They're grinding them fresh with a lot of fat

16:19 and then making the kebabs directly on the hot coals.

16:22 And then it they they serve it with with all the all the condiments,

16:26 with the parsley, with the lemon oranges, with the tomatoes, charred tomatoes.

16:31 Oh, and the tomatoes.

16:33 Chopping the tomatoes.

16:35 The juiciness of the tomatoes that has to be served at the kebab.

16:38 Here's the man, the friendly man in charge

16:40 of serving up the roasted chilies and roasted onions.

16:43 Okay, Shakran.

16:47 This place is action-packed.

16:49 Again, the massive sized bread.

16:52 You could hide behind her.

16:54 It's almost like a mask of bread.

16:56 Huge bread.

16:57 Freshly baked.

16:58 The kebab served on the tray.

17:00 Can't wait to try this.

17:01 This is Oh, this is pure meat happiness and overjoy.

17:05 Oh, I love how the bread is thin and crispy.

17:08 I'll go in for the kebab first.

17:09 Oh.

17:10 Oh, you can see how juicy it is.

17:12 How crumbly it is.

17:14 Kebab goes in the center.

17:16 You got to add in some of that juicy tomato.

17:18 Oh, the Iraqi way of eating kebabs is some of the best.

17:20 Then you add in a little bit of the parsley.

17:23 You add in a piece of the onion.

17:26 And then from there, you can also squeeze with the lemon orange.

17:28 But first, let's try it on its own first.

17:42 Oh wow.

17:44 That kebab just melts in your mouth.

17:49 It actually requires no chewing.

17:51 It just collapses and crumbles with the fatty flavor of the lamb and the beef.

17:57 I think he said it's a mix of lamb and beef.

18:00 That char of the fire.

18:01 So, it's crispy on the outside,

18:03 the juicy acidity of the tomato and the crunch of the onion.

18:06 And then the bread is so good.

18:07 Has that crispiness as well.

18:09 Iraqi kebabs are just mind-blowingly tasty.

18:19 The juice of the tomato just goes down your goes down your hand.

18:23 That's how juicy the tomatoes are.

18:33 The sheep liver.

18:34 Oh, and again the same procedure.

18:37 Every bite needs to be dressed in tomatoes in parsley.

18:43 Little squeeze of the

18:45 the lemon orange.

19:00 You can taste the freshness, the sweetness of that liver.

19:05 Again, grilled over flames.

19:07 So, it's really hot fire.

19:09 So, it scorches the outside,

19:11 keeping the inside moist and juicy, not dried out at all.

19:15 It's cooked perfectly.

19:16 Really clean flavor.

19:19 I sprinkled on some salt on the end as well that also brings out the flavor.

19:27 You're going to get juicy, that's for sure.

19:30 A juiciness of the tomato.

19:32 You can also taste with some of the pickles as well.

19:36 I love how in Iraq The rich meats are also

19:41 always served with something to balance acidity from pickles or lemons,

19:47 onions, parsley, tomato.

19:50 It all goes together in a perfect harmony.

19:52 Now we have to try the fat.

19:55 Oh, this one's not actually the call fat, though.

19:57 I think they they changed me.

20:00 I think we saw him grilling the cough fat,

20:02 but now he's he gave us like some of the pure lamb fat.

20:06 These are like the chunks.

20:08 The chunks of lamb fat.

20:09 I think we got to go for this one.

20:10 Pure.

20:20 Yeah.

20:20 I don't think there's any more pure lamb flavor than the flavor of the fat.

20:25 That is the pinnacle of lamb eating.

20:29 The fat.

20:30 So rich.

20:31 It's so like juicy and liquidy.

20:37 That definitely needs to be followed by some onion.

20:43 Everything here though is superb.

20:52 Look at the way that just the crispiness on the top,

20:55 the caramelization, that fat crispifying the juicy interior.

21:02 Oh, when you squeeze it in your hands,

21:03 you can actually see like a lamb fat like oozing out.

21:27 That's just pure kebab happiness.

21:33 Oh, and it happened again.

21:35 The owners, they refused to take payment.

21:38 Uh, they're so friendly, so hospitable.

21:40 What a spot.

21:41 And this place is without a doubt one of the great kebab restaurants of Carbala.

21:46 A place you have to come when you're here.

21:48 It is so good.

21:49 Okay, but from here, we're jumping into the car.

21:52 We have about I think it's about an hour drive and we're on our way to Babylon.

22:10 I actually fell asleep in the car after that kebab.

22:13 But welcome to Babylon.

22:14 [music] We've made it to the ancient city of Babylon and the famous Ishtar Gate.

22:20 But this is a replica behind me of the Ishtar Gate.

22:22 I think the original gate is now at a museum in Berlin.

22:26 So this is just a replica but the Ishtar

22:29 gate with its signature mud bricks painted in bright blue.

22:34 Okay.

22:34 Hello.

22:35 Mr.

22:35 Muhammad will be our guide today at in Babylon.

22:38 Okay.

22:38 Thank you.

22:40 This is the new gate not original.

22:43 Okay.

22:43 We will see original one up of the site

22:44 and the other one like this now in Germany.

22:47 Why in Germany?

22:48 German came to Babylon in 1902 like expedition for excavation.

22:53 So they took many monuments from Babylon.

22:55 They took a huge gate like this one.

22:57 It is called Ashtag gate.

22:59 So there was Iraqi archaeologist called Tahabaka decided to build this one

23:04 here in 1958 and finish from the job here 1962 to be

23:09 nice symbol and to remember generation that's something like this in Germany

23:15 that so we will see original one up on the side.

23:18 Okay, I know the original was even bigger

23:20 than this and it's not even the original location,

23:23 but here we are entering into Babylon.

23:28 The city of Babylon actually dates back some 6,000 years ago,

23:32 but mainly what's still preserved today

23:35 or the ruins that are today uh were built around 600 BC when Babylon was at its

23:40 peak uh under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.

23:44 And right here, this is an original

23:46 arch built during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar.

23:49 Um, but actually the city went way lower here.

23:52 And this is the top of an arch,

23:54 but then Saddam Hussein, he actually did renovations above it.

23:58 So, you can see these are newer bricks, which of course was very controversial.

24:03 But you can see these original 2,600y

24:07 old mudbaked bricks held together by the asphalt.

24:12 Wow.

24:13 And this is a city that uh is probably one of the most

24:18 well-known most famous cities in all of ancient cities of uh Mesopotamia.

24:24 You can see on the new bricks these are Saddam Hussein.

24:28 He was also copied King Nebuchadnezzar and stamped the bricks.

24:34 So these are Saddam Hussein's bricks.

24:36 In the southern palace there are about 600 home

24:41 and five main cockt uh the roof by cedar wood

24:47 and the decoration of the walls in that time were ceramic

24:51 some of these are in Germany we'll go now to take

24:54 right direction to see Babonian maze and to see what

24:58 it was in ancient time so you can see original

25:01 foundation in new construction in 1980 uh they follow the old

25:06 foundation to make a high wall above the original side.

25:10 Okay.

25:10 So here you can really clearly see the original the original

25:13 Babylonian bricks and the new the new bricks added that contrast.

25:18 So we are going through the maze to see storage or sailor and the ground.

25:25 They say maybe it was the place of the guard but we have another thing to talk.

25:31 We are just entering into a a brick tunnel, a mud brick tunnel here.

25:37 Camera to the office foundation of the wall here.

25:41 The office.

25:41 And we're heading into the the labyrinth or the maze.

25:48 Wow.

25:48 It really is a a maze back here.

25:51 You could get lost.

25:52 A labyrinth of little narrow alleys of mud brick.

25:59 Wow.

26:00 You can see label.

26:05 And next we're going to go down to see something very special

26:08 in history of Babinon.

26:10 We have a famous subject.

26:12 It's called the garden of Babon.

26:14 I mean the heni garden which was one of the seven wonders in the old.

26:18 But where is it today?

26:20 No one knows exactly.

26:21 And it hasn't been proven but it potentially was

26:24 the site of the the hanging gardens of Babylon.

26:27 an ancient wonder of the world.

26:29 And it was down down here and up there the hanging gardens of Babylon.

26:37 And now we're coming into this really high archway down here.

26:42 And the significance of this was that first of all,

26:46 it was a storage room for goods and for uh grain

26:49 and for things probably to store because it's really cool and it's dark.

26:53 So, these are all just dark like prisoner cellar rooms

26:59 and there's 14 of them that go down down this hallway.

27:03 And so, yeah, within this, it's like a dungeon dark storage room.

27:09 And uh Babylon is also an important city mentioned

27:14 and it is the city where Daniel as well as Shadrach,

27:18 Meshach, and Abedneo, they were held in captive in the city of Babylon.

27:22 Uh so Daniel from the lion's den when he

27:25 was held in captive this is potentially the place where

27:27 he was held in uh a dark storage room

27:34 uh which is fortified and also king Nebuchadnezzar ordered Shadrach,

27:39 Meshach and Abedneo to be thrown into the fiery furnace.

27:42 So this place has a lot of meaning, a lot of history.

27:50 Soon as you enter into the throne room, you can hear your voice kind of echoing.

27:53 But this is one of the most important rooms in Babylon.

27:56 This is where the kings ruled.

27:58 The throne was here.

27:59 And if you can imagine, in its heyday,

28:02 this was decorated with cedars of Lebanon as well as ceramic tiles.

28:08 And one of the most fascinating stories from the Bible,

28:11 from the Old Testament, when Daniel was captive in Babylon,

28:16 uh, and King Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and Daniel

28:20 interpreted his dreams right here within this throne hall.

28:25 That is actually unbelievable to think about.

28:30 And yeah, you can actually go up onto the the platform here

28:34 where the king of Babylon would

28:37 sit where Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams.

28:48 Now we're just getting a view over the outer palace of Babylon.

28:52 And there's more pal another palace in the distance.

28:55 Yeah, you can see the the ruins, the all the mud bricks and just over there,

29:01 Babylon was formerly on the Euphrates River,

29:04 but the Euphrates River has changed course a number of times,

29:08 so it's not here anymore, but just the the Hila River.

29:12 And then also in the distance,

29:13 you can see the Saddam Hussein Palace, which has been abandoned.

29:18 And now we're getting our first view of the Lion of Babylon.

29:23 and it is 2,600 years old made from black basaltt stone.

29:29 It is a Mesopotamian lion defeating an enemy and it's

29:34 a symbol of the dominance and the power of Babylon.

29:37 And it's become one of the most iconic statues and symbols of Iraq.

29:46 And now we're coming to the main road, the main entrance of Babylon.

29:50 And the significance this is still the original road

29:53 with made from mud bricks and asphalt built by the Babylonians.

29:58 And you can see the construction and this leads to the main gate of Ishtar,

30:03 the original Ishtar gate which we're going to see soon.

30:05 But the significance of this road is that everyone who came to Babylon

30:09 passed through this road from Daniel to ancient kings to Alexander the Great.

30:17 Everyone has walked this road.

30:22 Wow, that's surreal.

30:24 So to be able to walk on this road is

30:28 truly an honor that symbolizes the name of the palace with Ishtar Gate

30:39 of Ishtar Gate symbolizing the name of the palace Babylon with Ishtar Gate

30:45 in uniform.

30:48 So, now we're at the location of the actual the real Ishtar gate.

30:53 Again, it was a huge gate and it was covered

30:56 in blue bright blue ceramic tiles depicting two different animals.

31:01 one of a bull and the other animal which they're

31:04 not quite sure what it is but many people think it

31:07 was actually a dinosaur at the backside of the Ishtar

31:10 gate where you can really clearly see the two different animals,

31:14 the bull and potentially the dinosaur,

31:18 but they're really clear here and original.

31:22 That is incredible.

31:26 That was a fascinating tour of the ancient Babylon.

31:32 And it's a city with so much history,

31:34 so much complexity, and still so much more to be discovered.

31:38 But I never thought I'd say this, but goodbye from Babylon.

31:43 And I hope you enjoyed this video.

31:45 Uh, be sure to stay tuned for the next video.

31:47 We're traveling around Iraq, eating some of the best food,

31:50 and visiting a lot of the historical sites as well.

31:53 So, be sure to stay tuned for the next video and goodbye from Babylon.