- What's up, everyone? I'm Drew Binsky and in this video, I'm going to be sharing with you the beautiful city of
Babylon in Central Iraq. You can it see behind me. It was once known as the
cradle of civilization. It is literally where mankind started. There's so much to do, and I'm gonna be taking
you around right now. Here we go. (bright Middle Eastern music) I've now been in Iraq for four full days, and I'm feeling pretty settled after hitting the streets of Baghdad and exploring Saddam
Hussein's abandoned palace. I'm telling you guys that this country is as special as they come, and I really enjoy sharing
these Iraqi stories with you. But this video is about to top
everything I've done so far. My buddy, Alvaro and I have arrived in the ancient city of Babylon, right in the heart of Mesopotamia. Even if you don't like history, trust me, it's worthwhile to pay attention because this is the root of our human existence as we know it. Located on the banks
of the Euphrates River, Babylon was a major trade hub, bringing together new ideas
and products in the region. For many centuries, it was
the world's largest city and the first to reach a
population of 200,000 people. I'm talking way back
in the 7th century BC. Nowadays, everything has
been left behind in the dust, and the ruins are hardly
visited by tourists because it is not accessible,
nor easy to get permission. But I'm here today and I
hope you guys are ready for the next 15 minutes
because this is gonna be one hell of an adventure. Welcome to Babylon. - Super excited. Babylon is a legendary
city, old civilization, probably the cradle of civilization. So yeah, let's see what remains there, what kind of life people are
living now in New Babylon. - I don't know what to expect. I know there's historical
sites and landmarks, but, hopefully, there's a culture that's still living within
the walls of the sites. So we're heading there
right now, and stay tuned. 20 second intermission. If you love travel and
you haven't picked up your brand new Just Go
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awesome accessories in the store for all of you travel addicts like me. All right, back to Babylon. Just Go! Our first stop was the
Tower of Babel, which, according to the legend, is the reason why we all speak different languages. Apparently, thousands and
thousands of years ago, there used to be one common
race with one language, But when the people of Babel
built the tower high in the sky to reach the heavens, God
rained on their parade and confused all the languages and forced people to
scatter around the planet. Whether or not you believe it's true, I gotta say, it's pretty special to be able to visit
such a historical place. But please don't forget
the present-day situation. We are in the middle of Iraq, where safety is our biggest concern. (police speaking foreign language) - We have five police
escorts with us here. Dude, this is wild. You see that? - Road tripping in Iraq. - Here we are. We're
hiking to the old tower, which looks like it's about to fall over. But doesn't this kind of remind
you of Bamiyan, Afghanistan? - [Alvaro] I mean, it's very, very old. - It's surreal that like
this place, at one time, was so popular and the
center of the world, really, and now, it's like, just,
there's nothing here. - Mesopotamian Empire, King
Nimrod built this tower. Tried to reach God, that's
what the legend says. - Right. (bright Middle Eastern music) Hi there. How are you, bro? - I'm good. - Where are you from? - I'm from Babylon. - You're from here? - Yeah, I'm from here, my childhood here. - [Drew] There is so much history here. - Yeah. - In Babylon. - The Gate of Babylon, Ishtar
Gate, the Lion of Babylon, the Hanging Gardens. - [Drew] So how do you
feel that are you from- - It's an honor for me, I am from Babylon because it's the cradle of civilization. - [Drew] Cradle of civilization. - Yeah, yeah. - Awesome that this dude is literally from Babylon, like literally born and raised here, that's really cool. I have one question for you. Is this tower the original tower built thousands of years ago. (man speaking Arabic) - [Interpreter] It's over 6,000 years old. - Each brick is original?
- Yeah. - [Drew] Wow. And how do you feel,
coming from a place like, with such historical sites? (man speaking Arabic) - [Interpreter] Very
proud of our civilization. - [Drew] Cool. Well, we're very happy that you're here because of safety and
thank you for joining us. - What's your name? - Jaffa. - Jaffa? - Cool, man. How are you, bro? - How are you? - [Drew] You have great eyebrows. Good? - Good. - This is such a beautiful place
and it's hard to comprehend all of the history that has
happened on these very grounds. But it was time to move onwards
and explore more of Babylon. Just across the road from the tower is on of the most sacred places
for Jews in the Middle East. It's the tomb of prophet
Ezekiel who lived in Babylon in the 6th Century BC. He was part of a community of 75,000 Jews, which at the time was one of
the most thriving communities in the world. We just
showed up at the site and it feels a little weird. A guy with a business suit
came and shook our hands. We don't know who it is, and now they're all
kind of standing around, looking at us, like are we
going to get our permission. I don't know (beep) man! - [Alvaro] I just know
if you say you're Jewish, you're done. - Yeah. I can't say that I'm
Jewish because if I do... - [Alvaro] It's a Shia site. - Now it's a Shia site, but it still has historical
ties to my religion. Yeah, I'll take it from here.
I'll give him my habibi. (greetings in Arabic) This is so sketchy. I'm trying to film but
they're gonna bust me. I think Iraq might be the hardest country to have permission to shoot, because we need to ask
everyone to get permission. Lots of times they say no. Right now the sheik of this
mosque is talking to us, to try to get us permission,
but it's very difficult. Lo and behold after a 40 minute wait and lots of hand shaking, we finally got permission
to go inside and explore. (lively Middle Eastern music) - We managed to get
permission to shoot on... - Crazy. - phone. And we are lucky. - An army of 10 people following us. - We are lucky yet. - (quiet Middle Eastern music) - We're in Ezekiel's tomb, one of the important prophets in Judaism. It's also the oldest
and most historical site in Jewish history, in all of Iraq. It's very cool to be here. This was a synagogue, you can
feel it in the walls here. They're just so cool. Being in a synagogue in Iraq, oh God. It's so completely empty in here. This window here, it
points towards Jerusalem. There are Hebrew inscriptions
all over the walls. Obviously now there is
Arabic, there is some, but there's Hebrew everywhere. It's really cool to be in here, to feel the history in the walls and the remains that are still here. That's where we are now. (lively Middle Eastern music) Alvaro what do you think about this place? - I just think it's amazing
man, it's a bit overwhelming. We're a Christian, a Jew and a Moslem visiting one of the prophets of Judaism, and now it's a Shia country, Shia temple. It's really amazing. It's proof how tolerance now can coexist in different places. - [Drew] Absolutely man. How do you feel in here? Is it beautiful? - It's one of the first time I have seen. - [Drew] And you're from here? - Yeah. - [Drew] And you never came here? Do you like it? Yeah, I so like it, I am so proud there is some
history for the Jewish in Iraq. I like it. - [Drew] Do they know that I'm Jewish? - Maybe, but they're happy. - [Drew] They're happy? - Yeah, so happy. - I was a bit nervous to
come here, being Jewish, but apparently all these
guys figured it out, once I started reading
the Hebrew on the walls, and they're very welcoming,
and they're happy about it. We're walking up to
the top of the minaret. Careful guys, look at that, straight down. Oh dude look at this, so much better. This is something you won't see every day. I don't even know how to
describe what that looks like. Essentially it's very, very old. Then you have this dome,
right next to each other, wow! I don't know whether to call
it a synagogue or a mosque, it's kind of both. Wow. And it's also a cool feeling
to know that nobody's ever shot here before, because you need to get crazy permission. I'm completely stunned
by this place, Babylon. All these ancient historical sites, which is why I do what I do. It just doesn't get any better than this. Finally we made our way to the ancient ruins of
the Babylonian empire, which dates back to the 19th century BC. This is the place I
was most excited to see on this two week road trip around Iraq. We've finally made it. We're now entering the
famous blue gates of Babylon, the one I've seen so many
times online, in movies, it's right in front of me and I'm just really starting to feel the history of this place. It's really beautiful
walking through these gates. It's kind of empty now, but we still have these
beautiful palm trees that remain and the unbelievable
gates that exist here. Very, very cool. - You are welcome now in our
city, now beside the star gate. - [Drew] How old is Babylon? - This civilization, King
Nebuchadnezzar, 600 BC, 2,600 years. The area of Babylon, 10
million square meters. - [Drew] Are you from Babylon? - Yes. - How does it feel to be
from such a historical city? - Me, very happy here in City of Babylon. The Babylon, me. Me like the Babylon. - [Drew] Me like the Babylon too. - Yes, very happy. - [Drew] Everybody like the Babylon. - Ah yes, big, big, big. - ♪ Ba, ba, ba, ba, Babylon;
Ba, ba, ba, ba, Babylon, ♪ ba, Babylon. - ♪ The gate of God. ♪ - ♪ Lets go dance... ♪ - This foundation's original. Can you see? - [Drew] Yeah, how much
is underground in Babylon? (Arabic) - [Interpreter] Over 90% of
the city's still underground. - [Drew] But he's got the key, man. - [Alvaro] That's why you were here. - [Drew] I didn't know that. - This guy's the boss, dude. He owns the place. (gate clanging) - The main god in Babylon,
Marduk. They had to draw him, why? The god I live everywhere. In the sky, in garden, in cave. This here is inscription. - [Drew] Inscription? What does it say? - King Nebuchadnezzar renewed
Marduk Temple and Nabu Temple. Can you see, this? The join
tar, material tar, no cement. - [Alvaro] Yeah, check
this out, what does it say? - [Drew] King Nebuchednezzar
reconstructed this place. - [Alvaro] This is original? - Original, yes. - [Alvaro] Original gate, the blue one? - Yes, yes. At time this is a street, people.... - [Drew] Oh, we're underground right now. - Yes. This 40 meter. Now
it's cover just eight meters. - [Alvaro] Why is it so many
ruins underground still? Why don't you excavate? - Because the Iraq before, war, war, war, and you need to protect me,
excavate this, dig this, because you need to
protect all the things. (somber music) - [Drew] This beautiful
lion behind me of Babylon, is just stunning. The original stone sculpture
that they found here, they excavated here, and it's
a wonderful sight to see. It's overlooking the
fence and it's beautiful. It's so stunning here, the
castles, all the palm trees, and the different
inscriptions on the walls. Kind of like Egyptian almost. Really just makes you feel like you're walking in the beginning of time. These walls have been standing
for god knows how long and it's kind of like a maze
when you walk through here. It just kind of goes on forever. You like it? - I like it, so much, I
visit it a lot of time. - [Drew] But as beautiful as Babylon is, there is no effort to preserve
it and it breaks my heart. If this site was in a
country like Italy or Egypt, it would attract millions
of tourists a year, just like the collosseum
and the pyramids of Giza. But, sadly, this place
is not built for tourism. There isn't even a functioning
bathroom in the area. - Babylon is beautiful, but there is no care, from the government, Saddam Hussein rebuilt everything, but something is real still here. - On one hand it's a
really special experience to have Babylon all to ourselves, but on the other hand, I wish more people could
experience its majesty, because, trust me, this is one
of the most impressive things that our world has to offer. Bro, - Bro - We've been a lot of
places in this world. - Lot of places. - This is up there. - This is, I mean, the ruins are amazing, because we have the old
ones in the back there, completely, even, not even
under, but still there. - It's incredible and Saddam's palace overlooking this entire
city, it's incredible. It's got the old and
then the new and I think, having the sunset here,
watching it over this old city is something I'll never forget. And the craziest thing is
it's such a historical site, but no ones here. - [Alvaro] No one is here. - [Drew] Not even locals come here, so really, really interesting. All right guys, thanks
for watching this video, I will catch you guys soon. Peace. (quiet instrumental music) - This is the oldest market for
Jewish. Named Daniel Market. - Old Jewish market we're
walking through now. - He says do you want chai? - Yeah, chai? Chai, chai,
yeah, okay. One chai. Always happens. You've got that beam of light
coming through to the market. I've been to a lot of markets, but something about this
place just speaks to me, just feeling the history around here, right next to the synagogue. At one point you can just
imagine this place flourishing with food and with shops
and with people coming in, Iraqi Jews everywhere I don't know how many Jews in present day get to visit this place, but
it's been really an honor to come here and check it out I don't know if historical
sites get you guys excited, but being here is really
just something else. Do you think there's any
more Jewish people now? - I don't think so. - No more Jewish people, really? I just want to give a quick
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