Saddam Hussein's Palace (NOT what we expected)

Not what I was expecting when we came to Iraq. Beautiful family.

A snowball fight in the mountains of Kurdistan. It's not what I ever thought I would be doing.

It was so nice.

Good morning from Kurdistan, Iraq. Oh, it's cold.

Thank you.

You have your Costco?

Yes.

It is our second day here and yesterday we had the best time exploring the capital city of Ebil. We met some of the nicest people in the world and we've never felt so welcomed in a new country.

Today we are getting outside of the capital city. We have hired a guide who is going to take us into the Gara mountains to see Saddam Hussein's former palace and I'm sure a few other interesting sites along the way.

He wants to have you as a third wife. Are you accepting of that? Do you want to. For example, I born during the war between Iraq and then the war between America.

Education is what's.

Just.

Cruising through Kurdistan, listening to Kurdish music, heading into the mountains. This is great.

Is so green. And I think since we've left the city, we've seen more sheep than people. Also, we've been told that it might not be possible to make it to Saddam's palace because it's up in the mountains. And last time our guide tried to go, the road was closed due to snow. He said, it's been a week since I've had any snow, so fingers crossed that we can make it.

So do you see that sign? It says Baghdad. So we are just 50, 18 kilometers from Bashika. Bashir was under ISIS control for three years. So Peshmerga Kurdish forces, they liberated Bashika in 2017. January. We are just 15 kilometers from Bashika.

The road that we're on right now was only built so that Saddam could get to his palace. It doesn't go anywhere else. It goes from the bottom to the top of Gara Mountain. So we're basically just on a 30 minute driveway right now.

Crazy. Oh my God.

How much further is it?

Maybe 10, 15 minutes far. We go up will be more snow.

Yeah.

Wow. The weather changed quickly.

This is definitely not what I was expecting when we came to Iraq, which.

Is why she's wearing sandals right now.

Yep.

It's not. It's not looking promising for making it up to the palace right now, but it is absolutely beautiful up here.

There are a bunch of buses that come up here just to play with the snow. So all these people are very happy.

They're not coming up here to go to the palace, they're just coming up here to see snow. Apparently they come all the way from Baghdad.

Okay, take a picture.

Yeah, take a picture.

1, 2, 3. Thank you very much. You're welcome. You're welcome. This is like a foot of snack.

Thank you.

Okay.

I think it's official. We've been talking to the drivers of these buses and apparently there's no way we're making it up to the top of the mountains in the car.

I think this is better.

But we are making a lot of new friends and eating some beans.

Very good.

They're so good. They have session.

He started.

Putting my feet.

We have no clue what's happening, but everybody seems to be having a lot of fun. A snowball fight in the mountains of Kurdistan is not what I ever thought I would be doing.

So nice.

I just learned that I'm a third wife of the.

He wants to have you as a third wife. Are you?

I only have one husband.

Seeing how happy these people are in the snow is the highlight of my trip.

So much better than seeing a palace that's been bombed out. How are your toes?

My toes are so cold. My hands are colder though, from the snowballs.

Oh, wow. That was a lot of fun. Okay. Hopefully we can make it back down the mountain and we're not stuck on Gara for the rest of the day. That was so much fun.

So we safely made it down off the mountain and we've actually come to another one of Saddam's palaces. Apparently he had multiple all over the country. This one's not in too good of a shape. Apparently it was destroyed in 1991 when there was fighting between Peshmerga and the Iraqi soldiers. The view from up here, though, the weather's starting to clear a little bit. We can see the snow capped mountains. See why you build a palace here?

Hey, how'd you get over there?

Living on the edge.

He had tigers, lion here. Tigers and lions, that's what they say, according to the local. But the palace, it's huge. I mean, the property, you know, the land.

It is just so crazy to be walking through here right now. I mean, you hear about Saddam Hussein and like, he just sounds kind of like this fictional monster. But then you come to a place where he actually lived. I don't know, it just kind of like humanizes the whole story. Not like in a good way, but that hurts.

A beautiful view, but we have to walk.

We're having a quick shawarma for lunch. Nothing new here, but we are trying a new sauce. This is date sauce we have never had before. And our guy said he thinks it's only in our wrap. I love dates. I can only imagine this will make my shawarma even better.

So good. I did not think that I could like shawarmas any more than I already did. It's amazing. A little bit of sweetness to go with the chicken. This is great.

And we have some more new friends.

But we will leave our shoes here.

Wow. We have just arrived in the town of La Lige. It is so holy that you're not allowed to wear shoes in this town. This is one of the most fascinating places I have ever been Bit. Oh, that was really bad. So we just passed through a checkpoint that was closed for three years because it leads directly to the front line of where the fighting was with isis. Phil. Very Kurdish. Like, we're going to dinner with the fam.

Wow.

We've made it through two kilos of fish. This is the equivalent of women taking their bra at the end of the day.

Satan's Four More Palaces. Walmart. You're a natural. That's great.

Selfies everywhere.

It's like a Toyota commercial destroyed in.

1991 during the Kurdish revolution. Ooh, there's thunder.

Yeah.

Dead sauce is great.