The Al-Hamidiyah Souq

Its arched tin roof came out of the French bombardment of 1925 riddled with holes; by day those holes turn into points of light falling on the ground. The souq leads to the western gate of the Umayyad Mosque.

What to see

One straight artery: roughly half a kilometre of covered street, lined with cloth merchants, spice sellers, soap makers and sweet shops. At the eastern end the roof stops, and the courtyard wall of the mosque appears between Roman columns left from the temple of Jupiter — that moment of transition is the best frame in the souq. At Bakdash along the way, ice cream is pounded with wooden mallets in front of the counter.

When

In the morning, as the shops open, the street is empty and the points of light at their sharpest; the crowd and the sound of bargaining peak in the late afternoon. Both states are worth seeing — enter from one end in the morning, leave by the other in the evening.

Take care

Prices are set by bargaining, not by tags; judge by the last smile, not the first number. On Friday mornings many shops open late.