Saigon
Gold Member
I was so sad to hear this morning that one of the great sites of the Middle East has been detroyed, with Aleppo's souk burned to the ground.
For anyone who has been there - and I guess several posters here will have been - the market was one of the greatest of its kind, rivalled only by Cairo, Marrakesh and Damascus. It was labrynthine and smoky, mysterious and fascinating.
You could buy anything in that market - from pistachio ice cream and bread to car parts, clothes and fabric.
I will always remember talking to a man in a white dejallabah while my wife looked at jewellry. Without breaking off from our conversation he pulled a fake Rolex watch from somewhere in his robes, pointed at it and said "Made in Switzerland. I bought it for US$10.
Read about the souk fires here:
BBC News - Syria conflict: Aleppo's souk burns as battles rage
For anyone who has been there - and I guess several posters here will have been - the market was one of the greatest of its kind, rivalled only by Cairo, Marrakesh and Damascus. It was labrynthine and smoky, mysterious and fascinating.
You could buy anything in that market - from pistachio ice cream and bread to car parts, clothes and fabric.
I will always remember talking to a man in a white dejallabah while my wife looked at jewellry. Without breaking off from our conversation he pulled a fake Rolex watch from somewhere in his robes, pointed at it and said "Made in Switzerland. I bought it for US$10.
Read about the souk fires here:
BBC News - Syria conflict: Aleppo's souk burns as battles rage