| Souk El-Hamidiyeh tips and photos posted by real travelers and Damascus locals. • 33 Photos • 17 Reviews See all Damascus Things To Do |  | Damascus Souk El-Hamidiyeh Reviews | 1 - 10 of 17 |  |
 Shapping mall - Syrian style by TheWanderingCamel Light twinkles like stars through the bullet holes in the iron roof of the Hamidiyeh Souq, and the lamps lining the wide passage give the whole place a glow. Below is a seething, heaving mass of people - local women shopping for everyday items, girls pointing at elaborate wedding dresses, carpet and curio salesman trying to lure tourists in to their shops, men with stuffed hawks sitting on their wrist, boys selling the flourescent-lit tubes and other knick-knacks you see all over the world, families heading for the icecream parlours. Druze women in their delicate white muslin veils, old men in traditional dishdashas and checked keffiyehs, young girls in jeans and their mothers in hijab. On and on it goes, until finally you come out into the sunshine of the newly smartened-up square in front of the Omayyed Mosque. Come back again after 6 and all is shuttered and closed. A few last people are drifting around but that is all. Now is the time to see just how big the souq is before you too take yourself off to your evening pursuits. Before it closes for the day, stop at the icecream parlour (the second one down) for a mastic icecream covered in chopped pistachios. I'm not all that fond of it, MrL loves it - you need to try it though, it's a favourite Damascus treat. Leave a Comment
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This bazaar is very busy and crowded all of the time. There are pushy merchants of course here and in all bazaars, but I found the pressure much less here than in Cairo for example where the merchants are very pushy and pratically follow you and plead with you to visit their shop....so I found it much easier to navigate through this bazaar....it was very crowded, people everywhere, but the merchants didnt really bother you much. Leave a Comment
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 souq al-hamidiyya by xaver I always look for and appreciate local markets, but the ones I love more are definitly arab souks, I never found anywhere else so much variety of colours, smells, tastes. This the most important souk in Damascus and it is definitly a must see, I could have spent the day there simply tasting their icecreams, their sweats, wandering through shops and watching the life go on. Leave a Comment Address: old town
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 damascus by fouads From the most important thing to do in Damascus is visiting the coverd bazar (alhamedya souk ) it,s really wonderfull and you can see there many local things and gifts , hand made textiles and bnoxes . Address: alhamedya areaDirections: It,s open from 9 am until 8 pm and the friday is holiday
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Souk al-Hamidiyya took its current form in the 19th century, when the governor of Damascus enlarged a much older souk and covered it with its characteristic corrugated iron roof. It is named after the Ottoman Sultan Abdel Hamid II. The two-storey shops which line it sell a range of goods including clothes, accessories, jewellery and carpets. One thing you will notice is the dappled lighting affect produced by the sun streaming in through the hundreds of bullet holes in the roof. these were cause by celebrating Arab riflemen after the Turks and Germans retreated in 1917. Then more were added in 1925 by machine guns in French planes, firing down at Syrian rebels. Leave a Comment Directions: It runs east-west through the Old City, south of the Citadel and four blocks north of Straight Street, which it is parallel to. Enter it through the Roman Propylaeum, near the Umayyad Mosque.
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 Roman arches mark the entrance of the Souq by xristos83, 1 more photos This souq is gigantic and crazy! I personally did not like it as the souq in Aleppo was much better and relaxed (it put me in the buying mood). This souq is nice for people watching though, but as far as shopping goes I though there was too much junk to sift through in order to find anything. The Al-Tekiyeh Al-Sulaymaniyeh Mosque is a MUCH nicer place to buy gifts as the merchandise is higher quality. Leave a Comment
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Many visitors enter the souq and the Old City via Souq al-Hamadiyya, which goes from the west to the Umayyad Mosque. It is the main street of the covered bazaar, a wide street with several souvenir shops. South of the Umayyad Mosque you will find narrower streets and a density of goods for sale. Take your time to walk around on back streets and to look in to courtyards of khans, madrasas, mosques and hammams. Leave a Comment
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Since ancient times, Damascus has been known as a commercial centre due to its strategic position at the end of the southern caravan routes traversing through Arabia and Africa. As a result, it developed a large market (called "souk") which has become the focus of daily Damascene life. The souk is in fact divided into several adjacent souks, each sometimes specialising in a different product (silk, spices, etc.), though over time, this feature became less pronounced. The most famous is called Souk Al-Hamidiyya, which runs just south of the Citadel from the western city wall to the Roman Propylaea and the Omayyad Mosque. Others include Souk al-Bzouriya (spices, nuts), Souk al-Harir (silk), Souk Midhat Pacha, and Souk al-Attarin (perfumes). These souks tend to be covered to shelter shoppers from summer heat. When visiting Damascus, you must allow yourself at least a day to wander through the souks and discover intriguing merchandise. The friendly shopkeepers are usually delighted to offer you tea. For more photos, click on the travelogue: Souks of Damascus.
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 Temple of Jupiter through the Souk-Damascus-Syria by Groverdean I really enjoyed this Souk in particular there is an ice-cream merchant here that sells the most devine ice-cream on the planet. Naturally it is vanilla in flavour, beaten, and whipped manually all day (makes a BIG difference, and then he dips it in ground up pistachio nuts! Yes I did have more than 1! Leave a Comment Directions: In the Old City Walls
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 Souq al-Hamidiyeh by sorrow It dates back to 1863, to the rule of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid, after whom the souq was called. It is covered with high iron vaulting, so old that sun rays filter through it into the darkness of the souq. The shops here sell everything from tissues to leather-work, from sweets and ice-cream to exquisite handmade brocades, mosaic, and copper inlaid with silver Leave a Comment Address: Damascus, the old townDirections: Follows a straight line from the west(where Bab al-Nasr used to be) to the Omayyad Mosque.
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