Najaf the Iraq nobody shows you
hello every guys, from najaf today, from what is supposed to be apparently the biggest cemetery in the world, here in najaf, it's interesting because the cemetery is so big that basically you have streets, just in front of me, there is a traffic jam, and there is a car coming as well and today is such a beautiful day actually, so it's funny in iraq a cloudy day is a beaut... a cloudy day is a beautiful day, because the sun is so hot, then you're very happy when the sun is hidden behind the clouds, it's quite different from europe... yeah so as you can see that's what's supposed to be around me, the biggest cemetery in the world, here in najaf, but we're not going to visit the cemetery for long, let's head back in the old town and let's discover what najaf has to offer, let's go, with the cemetery traffic jam just in front here we arrive at the market leading to the shrine of uh imam ali, which makes... which is the most important thing in here, in uh in najaf, yeah it's the shrine that makes najaf very famous, and it's a place of pilgrimage also for shi'a muslims and as you see it's quite a busy place sweets funny shops and another thing i need to tell you once again, i will say it's almost as usual, ... my hotel...
i decided not to stay in the holy area around the shrine, so i'm staying a little bit further down this road actually, five kilometers down this road, and i came by minibus and once again, it's a constant here in iraq, but once again i could not pay for my ride, i didn't really get to who paid for me, it was a woman, i gave her the money and then she gave it back to me, i don't know if she paid for me or if the driver gave me a free ride, i don't know, but i could not pay for my ride once again i don't know if you can feel it, but to make you feel a little bit what it is to be here, you can really feel the.. i don't know... it's a place that is uh there is something special... all the bustle, the hustle and bustle of so many people around here uh so most people i guess come for the pilgrimage here, so you can really feel that it's a religious... very important religious site, and that there is this i don't know how to call that... let's say religious strength, very present around here, it's very strong here, it's very hard to forget, it's impossible to forget that you are in a very strongly religious place, okay there is a narrow, narrower road, let's keep going straight still and maybe we will explore the side roads later sorry okay let's dive let's dive into the side alleyways as uh there's still light, so let's enjoy to do the narrow streets it's actually very interesting because you can see uh probably a mix of a lot of the people of the middle east here here you can see the shops, selling the i guess that's the outfit for the pilgrimage for men i think, so if you come for your pilgrimage here you can buy the outfit right here, you don't need to bring it from home let's dive in the vegetable market and maybe later i'll just uh just go down and walk back towards the hotel, and film what's on the way what's your name, moussa good okay it's always good to find friendly people, to find friendly people with the camera, that's as i say often, that's when the video starts for real for me it looks like uh well, the food is getting ready sorry i don't really know what uh what comment to put in the video, so i'll just let you enjoy the street, without comments okay let's take these backstreets, actually i still have one thing to tell you, uh i checked the history of najaf, and actually najaf, so it's... right now it's uh the religious center for shia
muslims in iraq, and also something i didn't know, to explain how religious it is, basically here basically the city was created as a shrine to imam ali, so it's... basically the entire city is a shrine well and uh this neighborhood is uh quite impressive, it's really... well it's funny, i'm constantly balanced between excitement and somehow fear also, i don't know why but there is this mixed feelings when you do this kind of video, in this kind of neighborhood wow sorry i'm diving into a neighborhood, i've seen it was like very narrow streets on the map, so i thought i'm gonna have a look, and uh well that's what it is, a very poor neighborhood let's go this way so i guess that's where the normal iraqi people live that's quite a mess okay now, actually before i did the opposite of what i told you, i told you i go back to the hotel, and then i went the other way around, but now i am definitely going back to the hotel, and let's see, to finish the video, let's see if we can find look at the parking, that's an iraqi parking lot and uh it was one guy... because there is often those those noises... it's like a gunshot but but it's not, i don't know what it is, but it's not a gunshot, but you hear it quite often, and every time i hear it, i get scared, anyway i was saying let's go to find some food to finish the video, let's finish the video with dinner after sunset, i think sunset is already done, so everybody can eat, and we can eat outside now there is some juice here nice there's some sandwich here but i don't want the sandwich, let's go for the juice maybe first and uh, yeah i'm really uh i'm really thirsty this is this right okay, i will try it, one like this so if i remember well, hamas mir is 500. that's hamas mir okay good i remember, i remember correctly there you go thank you, okay i get this juice, which is the... this one, the pink one, uh and we can drink it in the street because the sunset passed already wow i don't know what fruit it is but it's going to be good, i'm thirsty oh yeah it's good oh my god, all the kids look at me like... as if i was a very weird person
i guess i am a very weird person, i drink a juice in front of a camera okay let's keep going down the road to find some food now and a beautiful... oh i almost fell, beautiful old car, i wonder what's this uh i really wonder what's this uh... toyota, i don't know, what's this car, what's the brand of the car oh it's a toyota wow, the sign... you see the logo is very weird so that looks... so that's the... wow okay so it looks that's the old logo of toyota, i didn't know, nice i like here, i feel more...
feel much more relaxed, i feel much more relaxed compared to... all the religious hustle and bustle near the shrine was a bit overwhelming for me hello, oh you have food i can eat here how much for one can i see grilled tomato this is samak (spicy salt) ah, this is kebab this is chicken? beef and this is chicken one for 1000 no sell where are you from, france can i get one no, two and tomato let's sit, and let's show the channel i don't understand, brother, no no, brother so this is yours okay so he has a very recent motorbike this is samak no, i pay, i pay, please for free please, no buying okay, thank you youtube, yeah, i give you my name okay so now they don't want me to pay once again, oh my god so i have the tomatoes and the... yeah yeah so let's eat this two beautiful kebabs with some samak (salt) on top of it and the tomatoes, the grilled tomatoes, and some uh some herbs okay so that's khadra, let's try the khadra very good, let's go for the tomato and let's go for the kebab it's good so i have got a fresh bread now it's so hot nice to meet you mustafa photo okay so look at that, i have a freshly baked bread, fantastic, that's incredible okay bye i have hotel i need to eat this it's okay i walk, i walk, i will walk yeah yeah youtube i don't understand, i don't speak arabic no english yes, i speak english i am from france where do you live in france near paris what's your name, muslim, nice to meet you son of aqil we have three characters whose name muslim ibn aqil i don't understand okay, let's eat i cannot understand, he's talking to me, i don't understand okay let's eat, okay i will switch off the camera, eat, and let's go because i think he wants to close thank you okay i sit again then so i was about to go and he gave me water and a yogurt drink hi hi okay let's have some of yogurt and then let's go okay i guess this is iraq, still can't pay, can't pay for anything, well yes i managed to pay for my... for what, look at this street, oh my god the poverty here is uh wow the poverty here is very extreme wow, it's terrible, anyway people are very poor and still i can't pay for anything, so well that's the end of the najaf adventure, now i'm just gonna walk on my own, back to my hotel, and uh yeah after this meal where i couldn't pay... could not pay for my meal, could not pay for my drinks
that's the way it is in iraq, see you later... see you later guys, see you for the next adventures, ciao
2022-06-04 20:35
