The Medieval Bazaar
Friday, December 5th, 2008Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com
A portal that transports you back into time, Khan el Khalili gives its visitors a glimpse into what a traditional market was like in the middle ages, with its medieval atmosphere and labyrinth of winding streets and twisted alleyways.
In 1382 Emir Djaharks el-Khalili built a big caravanserai (or khan) in the heart of the Fatimid City. A caravanseri was like a hotel for traders, and usually the central point to an area’s economic activity. This caravanserai is still there, you just ask for the narrow street of Sikka Khan el-Khalili and Badestan. The Khan el-Khalili Bazaar is situated at one corner of a triangle of markets that go south to Bab Zuwayla and west to Azbakiyyah. The Khan is bordered on the south by al-Azhar Street and on the west by the Muski Market. One of the old original gates guards the entrance to the original courtyard which lies midway down Sikkit al-Badistan Street. The al-Hussein Mosque is also in Khan el-Khalili and Al-Azhar University and its mosque are not far away.
On a narrow street leading off al-Badistan, El Fishawi Café (or Café of Mirrors), is open continuously day and night, and you can count on that, because it has been so for over 200 years. It is small, a little crammed, and with mirrors almost everywhere. It has been the meeting place for local artists, and has been frequented by the Nobel Award winning laureate Naguib Mahfouz, one of Egypt’s most well known authors. His novel Midaq Alley is set in an alley in Khan el Khalili.
The place where art and commerce come together, Khan el Khalili is the heart of the city. You can easily wander the streets of this bazaar to take it all in. You don’t need a guide, or even a guide book, and should you get lost, just keep going in one direction and you will quickly come out of the maze, and close to a taxi. But if you’re planning on doing any shopping, be prepared to bargain shamelessly! Just remember that you should never feel that you insult or disappoint a seller by not buying.
Clothes are cheap, spices are of good quality and affordable, souvenirs are of good quality as in the hotel lobby, but at a better price. Jewelry is a matter of taste, and there’s an enormous variety of gold on offer. The perfume shops of the Khan are particularly tempting, saturated with spicy and floral scents. Colorfully decorated and brightly light, they’re run by clerks who can mix any fragrance you desire. Egyptian buyers generally shop in the area north of al-Badistan and to the west, where prices may be lower. Better deals for gold and silver are to be found west of the Khan along the “Street of the Gold Sellers”, and further on one will find the Brass and Coppersmith Markets.
The Khan is a MUST see, not to be missed even on a rainy day, as it is an open market, don’t let anything discourage you from this experience, it is still worth the visit!
About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
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Egypt Tours
The 1988 Nobel Prize winner for literature, Naguib Mahfouz, is one of the most outstanding novelists in modern Arabic literature. A large number of his novels have been translated into many foreign languages. He was born in 1911 in the old quarter of Cairo, El-Gamaliyya, which has set the stage for many of his novels. For over more than a century, and since his first novel in 1939 he has since written 32 novels an 13 collections of short stories, the most famous being, “El Bedaya Wal Nehaya” (The Beginning and the End) and “The Harafish”. Through his ability to present both a critical view of the very local society to which he belonged, that of modern Cairo, and a more universal perception of the troubles of man in the modern age, Mahfouz has gained this great literary appeal both in the Arab and international world.
Abdel Halim Hafez is among the most popular artists in the Arab world. Not only did he have a magical romantic voice, that entranced the crowds, but they loved him on the big screen too. He was born on the 12 of June 1929, in the small town of Halawat, in the Nile Delta. By the age of 5 both his parents had passed away, so he moved to live with relatives in Cairo, where he graduated from the Academy of Arabic Music in Cairo. Abdel Halim may have recorded many albums, but much of his work is only available from live recordings as he was mainly a live performer, and during the war years he contributed the proceeds of many of his concerts to the Egyptian Government. In March of 1977 he died in London, UK from Bilharzia which he had contracted as a child. It is estimated that the crowd that followed the funeral procession was about 100,000, one of the largest crowds at a funeral ever in Egypt.
Fathy Salama was born in Shobra (Harlem of Cairo) on March 27, 1969. This Grammy (Best Contemporary World Music Album) and BBC Award winner started playing the piano at the age of six and by age thirteen was gigging in Cairo’s clubs. Traveling to Europe and to New York to learn jazz with great artists as Barry Harris, Sun Ra and Pat Patrick, his music creations link together modern music and the music of the Orient. Through his group Sharkiat, Fathy has made many hits in the 80’s and has won two prizes for his film sound tracks for Fallen Angels Paradise and Signs of April.
In 1953, Omar El-Sharif became an over night screen idol with his first role in the Egyptian film, Sira’ Fil Wadi (The Blazing Sun). He first started working in his father’s successful lumber company, then converting to Islam and marring renowned actress Faten Hamama in 1955. He starred in a total of 22 films from 1954-1961, before his first debut in an English language film “Lawrence of Arabia” in 1962. Omar El-Sharif’s best remembered role is David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago”, where his son Tarek Sharif appeared as Yuri at the age of 8. Omar El-Sharif is fluent in Arabic, English, Greek and French and can also speak some Italian and Turkish. He has been nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, and a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor, Most Promising Newcomer award and in November 2005 was honored with a UNESCO medal in recognition of his significant contributions to world film and cultural diversity.
Umm Kalthum (1904-1975) is one of the most famous Arab singers of the 20th century. She was known for her powerful, pure voice and her moving renditions of both neoclassical and colloquial Egyptian lyrics. After the Egyptian defeat in the Six-Day War (1967), Umm Kulthum toured the Arab world on behalf of Egypt, donating the proceeds from her concerts to the Egyptian government. During her career, Umm Kulthum recorded more than 300 songs and made 6 motion-picture musicals. She became associated with President Gamal Adel Nasser, and in many interviews and avenues to the public she has promoted both the Egyptian and Arab culture.
Youssef Chahine born in 1926 in Alexandria to a Christian family established himself from the start as a director with an independent mind, ready to challenge authority. All his films have adopted some controversy or other, whether it be criticizing U.S foreign policy or Egyptian/ Arab social issues. He has been recognized on the international scene as early as 1951, where he was invited to the Cannes Film Festival and in 1978 won a Silver Bear at Berlin for his film “Alexandria…Why?”. Chahine has also received the 50th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. He has made more than 40 films, the last “This is Chaos” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2007. Chahine died this August at the age of 82 after several weeks in coma.
Since 1942, and in her pursuit of free studies in art Inji Eflaton, participated in the exhibition of the “Art and Freedom Group”. At the time modern Egyptian art, was conformed by bonds of academism and formalism and this was the first society to attempt to free art from its bonds. Starting March 1952, she had her first of 28 solo exhibitions in Egypt and world wide, including Rome, Venice, Paris, Dresden, Warsaw, Moscow, Prague, New Delhi, San Paolo and Kuwait. Inji Eflaton who died in 1989, received from the French Ministry of Culture, in 1986 a medal of merit called “Cavalier of the Arts and Literature”.
Taha Hussein (1898- 1973) was born to a lower middle-class rural family and lost his eye sight at a very early age. His father was keen on giving Taha the best in education, he was among the first to join and graduate with a Ph.D from the, then newly founded university. He received a scholarship to France and was the first Egyptian to obtain a BA from Montpellier University, and then a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne on Ibn Khaldoun (the fourteenth century Arab thinker). Taha Hussein became one of the leaders of the Arab culture renaissance, through his powerful will, craving for knowledge and his ability to challenge the established values.