There are markets in any country in the world, but only a few of them are a special place for both locals and tourists. These places include Khan el-Khalili - the most important trading place not only in Cairo, but throughout Egypt. Here you can buy everything you want and even more.
Description and history
The Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo was founded in the Middle Ages by Emir Karkas El Khalili. At the moment, this place is the largest street trading platform in Egypt and the entire Middle East - its area is about 5 thousand square meters. m. The market is located in the area of old Cairo, not far from it is the Al-Hussein Mosque.
The first mention of this bazaar is found in sources in 1292. At that time, Khan el-Khalili was essentially a caravanserai - a trading place where shopkeepers could both dine and relax after a hard day. The modern name of the bazaar is associated by historians with the name of the warehouse built here in 1382. At the beginning of the 16th century, the market was rebuilt, and since then there have been narrow winding streets of tanners, furniture makers, chasers, coppersmiths, silversmiths, sellers of spices.
Today, Khan el-Khalili is a place revered not only by tourists, but also by Egyptians. People come here not so much for shopping, but to fully immerse themselves in the unique atmosphere of the oriental bazaar with its exoticism, noise, smells and variety of goods on offer. Whenever you come to this place, it will always beckon you with the brightness of colors and the noise of a medieval Arab city.
What to buy in Khan el Khalili
The Khan el-Khalili market, despite its relatively small size, is characterized by a huge trading saturation. Numerous rows of this oriental bazaar are located at a very small distance from each other and, moreover, are located one above the other. The top row forms a kind of second floor.
Egypt's largest market, Khan el-Khalili, combines an amazing atmosphere with the opportunity to buy a variety of oriental goods. This bazaar is famous for its decorative handicrafts. Here you can buy national Egyptian clothes, and fabrics, and jewelry, as well as dishes, rugs, camel pillows and home textiles. excellent quality. They buy spices, hookahs, Cairo lamps, perfumes with delicate aromas, and various souvenirs at the market - from alabaster figurines to papyrus scrolls.
Among the huge number of alleys of Khan el-Khalili there are small cafes where you can try unusual Egyptian cuisine, as well as drink traditional drinks and smoke a hookah. For example, the Fishawi Coffee cafe was opened back in 1773, but it has not closed its doors to this day.
Most of the shops in Khan el-Khalili have a fixed price for goods. Of course, you can bargain here, but you should not count on a significant discount - you are unlikely to be able to reduce the price by more than 10%.
Note to tourists
The Khan el-Khalili market is open until late and closes only around 2 am, and some cafes, shops and shops do not close at all. On major holidays (eg. New Year or during Ramadan) the bazaar is fully open until dawn.
Resting in Egypt, be sure to visit this amazing place. Only on Khan el-Khalili there is a chance to feel the unique spirit of the ancient Arab city, get a lot of positive emotions and make a lot of useful and pleasant purchases.
The Khan El-Khalili market was founded in 1292. The modern name of the market is associated with the name of the warehouse built in 1382 for Amir Karkasa el-Khalili. Numerous pieces of evidence have been preserved from this distant time in the form of architectural monuments, often of a religious nature, but also of a secular nature. And at the beginning of the 16th century, the market undertook to rebuild the Sultan Al-Guri. Since those distant times, winding streets of tanners and chasers, furniture makers, coppersmiths, silversmiths and sellers of spices, etc. have continued to live here. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that now Khan el-Khalili is a favorite place for foreign tourists, and for the Cairo people themselves.
Knowledgeable people come here not only for shopping, but also to immerse themselves in oriental exoticism with its incomprehensible mess and diversity and, of course, to feel the atmosphere of a medieval Arab city.
In our time, Khan el-Khalili has become covered - and reliably hides its sellers and buyers from the scorching rays. And although civilization intervened in this eternally noisy bargaining of the oriental bazaar, equipped its territory, the bazaar remained a bazaar.
Now, despite the standardization of showcases, the market (in Arabic "souk"), like any oriental bazaar, the market is a complex of quarters, each of which houses artisans of a particular specialty. The Khan El Khalili market is hundreds of narrow aisles with cramped malls offering a wide range of different traditional goods.
This huge picturesque marketplace displays the products of local artisans. On Khan el-Khalili you can buy everything that the East is famous for: spices, perfumes, gold, silver, carpets, copper and bronze products, leather, glass, ceramics and more. You will not be able to buy only spirits and beer here.
It is not difficult to get to the market: it is located not far from the mosque of the most authoritative Islamic university Al-Azhar and one of the main attractions of Cairo - the citadel of Saladin.
The territory of the market is so huge (5 thousand m2!), that it is not surprising to get lost. Moving along countless cramped streets with shopping arcades, you feel like you are in a labyrinth, from where it is almost impossible to get out. But not everything here is as chaotic as it might seem at first glance. Each quarter has its own special life, unlike anything else. Khan el-Khalili is easy to enter, but quite difficult to get back without getting lost: this huge marketplace has six entrances, and in addition, twelve smaller bazaars adjoin it, each of which specializes in the sale of certain goods.
Cairo people are guided here unmistakably and know exactly where Nakhhasin is located - the "copper" and "terracotta" market, how to get to the "gold" Siyaga bazaar, and that fabrics must be bought in el-Khayatlin, and household goods - in the Sakkaria bazaar. Everything that your heart desires, you can buy here, there would be money. And although the Khan el-Khalili bazaar has recently turned 700 years old, time has no power over it: it is not at all inclined to silence and importance, it is still noisy and bargaining - and continues to grow.
Being in the Khan el-Khalili market for at least twenty minutes, we can conclude that here you can buy everything that the East is famous for. Skillfully made copper utensils, plates, cutlery, carpets, ivory jewelry, mahogany and ebony products, valuable leather and cotton products, ceramics. Alabaster figurines of ancient Egyptian cats and beautiful lamps made of colored glass. Furniture in Arabic style. Plush, leatherette, fur figures of camels of any size. Sequined belly dance belts. Shawls and scarves. Shawls of the most unthinkable colors, pillows, pouffes, turquoise, jade. Pyramids - made of plaster, stone, metal. Aroma oils. And there are so many souvenirs! Such abundance and diversity is truly breathtaking. The bazaar also sells wonderful Egyptian glass. It comes in navy blue, brown, turquoise, green, aqua and purple. Jugs, cups, vases, bottles, dishes and amulets are made from it.
The atmosphere in the bazaar is relaxed and peaceful. Barkers will vying to praise their product in a good dozen languages, including Russian, but do not rush to immediately fork out for the thing you like. In the East, they rightly notice: if you don’t deceive, you won’t sell, if you don’t bargain, you won’t buy! And for any Egyptian trade is akin to art. And in this "performance" you have to play along with him. The better you cope with your role, the less likely you are to be circled around your finger and the more likely it is to completely sincerely charm your "opponent", to earn his respect.
The Khan el-Khalili market has another remarkable feature - life here does not stop for a minute and eloquently indicates that Cairo is not in vain called the "city without sleep". Crowds of tourists walk around the bazaar during the day, sedate Egyptian families gather at night: they walk, have unhurried conversations over a cup of coffee with cardamom. And sometimes Egyptian celebrities and millionaires come here and with undisguised pleasure sit at simple plastic tables in local cafes and feed on the local energy. And if you happened to get to Khan al-Khalili after midnight, it doesn’t matter: after nightfall, you can continue to explore the market or hang out in one of the 24-hour restaurants.
The Khan el-Khalili market is open until 1 or 2 in the morning. Some cafes and shops - around the clock. On holidays: for example, in the New Year, Ramadan and in the summer everything is open until dawn - until the morning prayer.
On this Saturday morning, despite a stormy night spent (at a housewarming party with friends), Katya and I woke up early. Waking up the sleepers next room comrades Uritsky-Stav, took comrade Zautner from the mountainous region of Haifa and moved south. For a hundred kilometers, we were pleased with the Mediterranean Sea flashing here and there from behind the rocks, shining in the morning sunlight. In less than an hour, we met with our friends Sasha and Slava near their house and moved into their spacious jeep. So seven of them went to the southwest, towards Mount Hebron. Soon the coastal lowland outside the window was replaced by a landscape of pine-covered Judean mountains. Turning even further south, we were able to see, passing, the ruins of the settlements of the Canaanite, Greek and Roman periods, as well as picturesque glades dotted with bright red anemones. It was as if some giant had sprayed thousands of liters of blood on the grassy slopes... After the next turn, we were met by a building that did not fit into the flowery Levantine landscape in any way - a huge concrete structure of the Tarcumia checkpoint, consisting of several barriers and posts of the army and border police.
The checkpoint means the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River, where Israeli laws apply only to Jews, and the indigenous Palestinian population is under the authority of the military commandant's office and only in a few large cities has self-government in the form of the Palestinian Authority. We were on our way to one of these cities. In one of the most ancient cities of Palestine, the Levant and the whole planet, in El Khalil - Hebron. After passing the checkpoint, Vitaly noticed that at first glance, Palestine is no different from the state of Israel. But, driving closer to the suburbs of El Khalil, one could see a huge difference. On the left, we noticed several dozen houses with tiled roofs, surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire. The entire complex was decorated with a concrete military post. It was the Jewish settlement of Telem, where just over fifty families live.
After driving a little more, we turned right and entered the city of El Khalil. At the entrance, our attention was drawn concrete pillar, on which hung a huge red sign that read in Hebrew, Arabic and English literally the following: “Before you enter the Palestinian Territory A Israelis are prohibited from entering this territory. Entering there is against the law.”
El Khalil is the largest city under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), it is very different from the main agrarian Palestinian space. It concentrated production and trade. While Ramallah is considered the political and cultural center of the west bank, Al Khalil is recognized as the center of industry. Here are concentrated both traditional crafts, such as ceramics, glassware, the production of national kufiye scarves, as well as the textile and footwear industries, the production of plastics and polyethylene.
From the very entrance, the city impresses with its fussiness. When you see four-color Palestinian flags around, dressed in smart uniforms, representatives of the security forces, you immediately understand that you are in another state. One after another, restaurants replace each other, in which barbecues are installed on the sidewalk (to beckon passers-by with the smell of fresh shish kebab), clothing stores, furniture stores, vegetable and butcher shops. In the latter, one can observe such exotic goods for the Russian look as, for example, camel neck.
Everyone has a different attitude to such a Middle Eastern hustle and bustle, but sometimes I really like to walk along such noisy, shopping market streets, look at goods, buy something, chat with people.
Approximately two kilometers after entering the city, comrade Fahed was waiting for us, with whom we planned a working meeting on, and indeed an acquaintance - most of the comrades from our bureau had not yet met him then. Fahed speaks Russian very well, as he studied political technology for six years at the Voronezh State University. He kindly agreed to provide KTV articles in Russian and is ready to help with translations of our materials. Fahed joined the collaboration so quickly that many people knew him even before the trip through the joint work on the Internet on publications.
Fahed jumped the eighth passenger into the car and we immediately went to look for parking. Having passed the Khalil stadium, beautiful building university and a couple of administrative offices, we were able to find a place for a jeep and continued our journey towards the old city on foot. Even in the car, during a long journey, some comrades expressed a desire to have a bite to eat immediately upon arrival - in view of the strong feeling of hunger, invigorated by the breathtaking, appetizing smells of Khalil. It was decided to stop at a small cafe on the second floor and order falafel, hummus and ful, traditional for the first half of the day in Palestine. For comrades not familiar with Arabic cuisine: falafel- fried in oil balls of crushed chickpeas with spices; hummus— boiled chickpea paste with sesame tehina, served with chickpea seeds; ful- Pasta with grains from boiled Egyptian beans. Now, sitting at one large table, it was possible to get to know each other better. Everyone told a little about themselves, and we moved on to discussing projects and working together.
Having quenched our hunger and talked, we continued our journey to Old city. At some point, we noticed a large detachment of Palestinian police on a post in a wide area - this was the border of the territory under the control of the Palestinian security forces, and then the old city began, the so-called territory B where the PA has administrative control over Palestinian citizens and the Israeli army has military control. In this part of the city, the houses of the settlers are side by side with the houses of the Palestinians and are separated only by barbed wire and concrete barriers, and along the main street of this area - Shuhada - the free passage of the Palestinians is prohibited.
Walking through the narrow streets of the old city, we immediately saw metal mesh, covering the streets from above. On it you can see everything that settlers throw at Arab passers-by: stones, bottles and all kinds of garbage, including used baby diapers, are buried there. The further we went deeper into the old city, the more we saw the closed doors of shops and more and more on our way we were accompanied by empty ancient buildings and deserted lanes. Many people left these places because of the constant aggression of the settlers, military presence, violence and danger. The mayor's office of El Khalil is trying to encourage the daredevils by deciding to stay, no matter what, in their homes and trade. Residents of the old city are exempt from city and municipal taxes, and merchants are supported by subsidies that allow them to maintain fixed prices for goods, thereby attracting buyers from all over the district.
Thus, while inspecting one of the border buildings, covered with barbed wire, we got into a conversation with a young man named Shadi, who said that he lives in this house and invited us for a cup of tea, to which we gladly agreed. We climbed to the roof of the house, where about a year ago there was a story captured on camera: a settler climbed onto the roof of Shadi in order to rip off the Palestinian flag, but got entangled in barbed wire and remained hanging in such a “suspended” state. To the logical question “what is he doing on the roof of Shadi?” the young religious Jew replied in broken Hebrew that, they say, here are all the roofs of him and the entire Jewish people.
Shadi told how he and his family are being attacked. He showed us the scars on the face of his four-year-old daughter Zaynab, who was hit by the settlers with a stone, after which she lost consciousness and ended up in the hospital. He told about the case of another daughter who was sitting on the windowsill and she accidentally dropped a piece of paper on the settlers' playground - and this caused several armed soldiers to break into Shadi's house, who promised that if anything else fell on the settlers' territory, then his window will be filled with concrete. Shadi told us that he had repeatedly tried to maintain good neighborly relations with the Jews, but each time, in response to his polite greetings, curses and sometimes cuffs were poured on him. It was hard for all of us to hear about such a flagrant injustice, and some could not hold back their tears.
One of the strongest impressions on me was the openness and good-natured mood of Shadi's children. Despite all the hell they have gone through, they greet unfamiliar guests with a sincere smile and cordiality.
After drinking a cup of tea, talking with Shadi and his family, watching his videos, we continued our journey along El Khalil. After passing through the labyrinth of ancient narrow streets and lanes, we ended up in a place called "mouse hole". Indeed, we climbed into a dark narrow hole in the wall, about one and a half meters high, then climbed through a system of narrow spiral ladders and passages, and finally got ... onto the roof of Mr. Al Masri, who also told us his story - how the settlers are trying to squeeze him out of his house and how determined he is to defend his home. From its roof one could clearly see the part of the city occupied and cut off from its main part by the settlers. Right under the roof, Fahed recognized the store he had known since childhood, once owned by his family, but now found itself on the territory of the settlement.
Having descended from the roof, we continued our journey towards the mosque of Ibrahim (cave of the forefathers). Having crossed the checkpoint of the Israeli army, which is a booth with soldiers, a metal fence and a turntable, we ended up on the square in front of the mosque, but we decided not to go inside - at the entrance we had to go through another military check, and we didn’t want to violate the sanctity of this place with our atheistic presence. 🙂 I will only add that, according to biblical legend, the family of Ibrahim (Abraham) lived in this place and this place is holy both for Islam and Judaism. In this mosque, on February 25, 1994, the terrorist settler Goldstein shot praying Muslims, killing 29 of them ...
Turning around and walking back into the labyrinth of the old city, we encountered a very strange phenomenon. A large group of apparently religious settlers, surrounded by an equal number of armed soldiers and policemen, paraded through the Palestinian market. The explosiveness of this situation was felt in the air, which in a matter of seconds could provoke a conflict with the locals, and it could escalate into violence and aggression. We would gladly bypass this procession, but there was no other way. We decided to wait until everyone had passed, and calmly continue on our way.
This time, everything went without escalation, and we calmly reached the city center. Despite the fact that the sun was going to rest, and we were quite tired, we could not refuse Fahed's invitation and went to his house for a cup of coffee. On the ground floor, the Maharmeh family has a shoe factory, the main activity of the family is concentrated there. The whole family is involved in the production of shoes, except for Fahed, who works in the Palestinian Ministry of Information, and his brother, who is a doctor. After drinking coffee, we met Fahed's father, as well as brothers and nephews. We also got acquainted with the details and nuances of the production of leather shoes, and Katya and Alice liked some of the models so much that Fahed's brother, Firas, had to unpack the batch ready for shipment in order to sell us two pairs of beautiful and high-quality leather boots. 🙂
After tasting the delicious Palestinian equivalent of our cabbage rolls, produced by the Maharmeh family, under the strict guidance of Fahed (by phone), we set off on the long return trip, full of mixed impressions and ready to work together with a new comrade!
from Dima Zarkh.
Cairo is a dirty, poor, noisy, stinking, overpopulated city.. You can list the shortcomings of the Egyptian capital as much as you like, but they all lose their meaning when you get to the Khan El Khalili bazaar.
I already wrote that some places in Cairo cause an irresistible desire to return here again and again. And even among these places, Khan El Khalili occupies a special position. Not only do you want to come back here, it's impossible to leave here!
Who is Khan El Khalili?
This is the classic Arab East, medieval city, exotic, a fairy tale that has become a reality. This is the most colorful, real bazaar, occupying several blocks in the center of old Cairo.
Khan El Khalili is one of the main attractions of the capital of Egypt. But what do the sights usually look like? A beautiful ancient building (park, complex, excavations), restored from the foundation to the spire on the roof, stuffed with hidden cameras and signs “do not touch”, “do not take pictures”, “do not enter”, along which tourists move in organized groups with headphones in their ears and iPhones on selfie sticks.
What does Khan El Khalili look like? Several blocks of ancient buildings that have not seen repairs for the last 200 years, in which people live. Between the buildings is a labyrinth of cramped streets stuffed with shops, benches and little shops. Women in veils and with baskets of fruit on their heads silently move along the cobbled alleys. Men in doves and turbans sit in their shops on camel wool rugs, and children run barefoot through the streets.
The shops sell spices in bags, tin products handmade, gold jewelry, fabrics and perfumes on tap. Buyers bargain for every piastres, and sellers smoke hookahs and drink strong black tea from small cups.
And this is how Khan El Khalili looks like for the last 700 years! Can you imagine this? This is a real time machine. The shoeshine profession is still alive here!
History
Khan El Khalili was founded at the end of the 13th century. At that time it was one caravanserai where merchants traveling between East and West stopped. Gradually, the caravanserai was overgrown with shops and trading rows, until it turned into one of the largest markets in the Middle East.
The name Khan El Khalili appeared during the reign of Sultan El Khalili, who built a large warehouse here at the end of the 14th century. In those days, caravans of camels loaded with various goods came to Khan El Khalili daily, merchants shared news, made deals, rested with women, here they traded slaves and conspired against the authorities.
It's hard to believe, but today almost nothing has changed. Unless merchants, in addition to camels, began to use cars.
Nowadays
The market is open around the clock. During the day, trade is actively going on here, and, as it should be in any oriental market, different quarters of the bazaar belong to different masters. Tanners trade on one street, chasers on another, Egyptian glass sellers on a third, antique shops on a fourth, and so on. Part of the market has been attacked by Chinese junkies, so don't be surprised if you find yourself on a street littered with plastic slippers and cheap T-shirts.
Not all shops are closed at night, because buyers come here even at night. In addition, many come to Khan El Khalili to sit in one of the local cafes. They are extraordinarily colorful and often represent chairs lined up right against the wall of one of the narrow alleys. In the menu here you can find only soft drinks, oriental sweets and hookahs. Male sellers of small trinkets and women make their way between visitors, offering to paint henna drawings on their hands.
To be honest, I am re-reading what I have already written, and I understand that no words can convey that incredible atmosphere, the fantastic energy of this place, where people from all over the world have flocked for centuries to trade, relax and hit the road again.
If one day you will be in Cairo and you will have the opportunity to visit only one attraction of this city, I advise you to choose Khan El Khalili without hesitation. You will not see such an east anywhere else.
Well, if you don’t have the opportunity to visit the Khan El Khalili bazaar, but you dream of plunging into the atmosphere of the ancient Arab world, then I recommend reading the books of the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfuz (they are in Russian), in particular the Cairo Trilogy. Naguib Mahfouz describes Khan el Khalili and the life of its inhabitants much better than me! :)
Write in the comments if you have been to Khan El Khalili and what are your impressions?
