There’s a variety of souks in the medina: the tourist souk right near the main entrance off Green Square (a collection of everything you can find in the medina plus a lot of imports from sub-Saharan Africa), the gold souk, the cloth souk, the rug bazaar, the copper souk etc.
The copper souk is in a short lane leading off from the Ottoman clock tower and is one of my favourite places in the medina. Nicknamed ‘tin pan alley’, it constantly echoes to the banging of hammer on metal, and is, like many of the little shops here, a treasure trove of potluck: you can rummage around the junk on the shelves and come up with some fantastic stuff. The alley outside the cave-like shops is lined with tarnished and broken metal pieces.
The woman in white on the edge of the photo is a widow and in general probably a beggar. I have been told the mosques support such women when their husbands die and leave them without resources. I often see them walking along the middle of the roads with their hand out, silently imploring the drivers. Sadly, sometimes they’re dragging their young kids along with them.
Begging seems to have increased here, or perhaps expats/foreigners are seen as soft targets and attract more of it. I personally don’t give to beggars as a general rule, particularly as my cross-cultural teacher swore blind that begging is not a necessity in this culture and that they should not need to do it. Not sure if she was being idealistic or not.
Anyway, enough of that diversion. This is my favourite copper souk purchase: when I found it, the lid was broken off and it was so tarnished none of the pattern was apparent, it looked like it was plain brass. I chose it solely because I liked the shape. The young boy manning the stall took it off to fix the lid for me, and when I came back he had also polished it. It looked so different I did not recognise it as the same piece. I did try using it as a vase but it’s not water-proof. Still pretty though.
The copper souk is in a short lane leading off from the Ottoman clock tower and is one of my favourite places in the medina. Nicknamed ‘tin pan alley’, it constantly echoes to the banging of hammer on metal, and is, like many of the little shops here, a treasure trove of potluck: you can rummage around the junk on the shelves and come up with some fantastic stuff. The alley outside the cave-like shops is lined with tarnished and broken metal pieces.The woman in white on the edge of the photo is a widow and in general probably a beggar. I have been told the mosques support such women when their husbands die and leave them without resources. I often see them walking along the middle of the roads with their hand out, silently imploring the drivers. Sadly, sometimes they’re dragging their young kids along with them.
Begging seems to have increased here, or perhaps expats/foreigners are seen as soft targets and attract more of it. I personally don’t give to beggars as a general rule, particularly as my cross-cultural teacher swore blind that begging is not a necessity in this culture and that they should not need to do it. Not sure if she was being idealistic or not.
Anyway, enough of that diversion. This is my favourite copper souk purchase: when I found it, the lid was broken off and it was so tarnished none of the pattern was apparent, it looked like it was plain brass. I chose it solely because I liked the shape. The young boy manning the stall took it off to fix the lid for me, and when I came back he had also polished it. It looked so different I did not recognise it as the same piece. I did try using it as a vase but it’s not water-proof. Still pretty though.
Knitting: Finished the Doctor Who scarf! Hooray. No strength to start a new project just yet and it's not going to be a scarf, that's for sure.
Reading: Neal Stephenson.
Watching: nothing, our Sky box broke.
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