Damascus Shopping Tips by TheWanderingCamel

Name of Shop: ANAT Olic

A tiny shop, near the ancient Bab Sharqui Gate at the end of Straight Street in the Old City in Damascus, reveals within an explosion of colour and intricate handwork - beautiful embroideries, both traditional and contemporary; gossamer-fine weaving and other needle crafts. This is the work of Palestinian and Syrian women from the ANAT workshop project, a conduit for both income and pride - and hope for the future.

What To Buy: Finely woven and embroidered stoles and shawls in every colour of the rainbow; cushions and table mats worked in traditional patterns; purses and bags of every shape and size; jackets and robes; small gift items - all hand-worked. My favourites are bags, appliqued and embroidered with village scenes of houses, mosques and churches, flowers in the gardens and washing on the line.

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What To Pay: $5 and up, and up. Not cheap, but this is very high quality work that takes hours and hours to do and the prices should, and do, reflect this.

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Theme: Local Craft
Phone: +9631-11-5427878
Directions: Close to the Eastern Gate (Bab Sharqi) near the Armenian Orthodox Church. Check the website for a map
Website: www.anat-sy.org

Name of Shop: The Handicraft souq

The old madrassa beside the Tekkiye mosque now houses the government-sponsored Handicraft souq. There's an attractive stone-paved arcade of shops selling good quality items - textiles, wooden boxes, inlaid work, silver and gold, jewellery, curios - the usual stuff, at reasonable prices that are controlled (no bargaining here). It's particularly nice here in the evening when the place is all lit up and busier than it often is in the day.
Around the courtyard, rooms that once were the study and sleeping cells of Koranic students are now the workshops and ateliers of artists and craftstmen -glassblowers, musical instrument makers, weavers, etc. where you can buy directly from the maker.



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Theme: Local Craft
Address: Sharia Choukri al-Quatli
Directions: Adjacent to the Tekkiye mosque.

Name of Shop: Tony Stephan

Tony Stephans' shop may present a small face to the world - just a narrow passage and a showcase off the Souq Hamidiyeh, but inside is an Aladdin's cave of silks and other textiles, copper, silver, brass, inlaid wood work and much more.
Prices may seem on the high side compared to the souq outside, but the quality here is good and the range enormous.

What To Buy: Silk damask (brocade) from Damascus - this is the real thing. Lustrous silk woven in intricate patterns of as many as 6 and 7 colours. This is incredibly complex work, and you pay accordingly - the more colours, the more expensive the fabric. If you like textiles, you really should buy a small piece and that will only cost you a few dollars. Tony has ties, scarves, waistcoats, etc made up in the fabric and also sells it by the metre.

What To Pay: Up to you but prices here are perfectly reasonable for whatever it is you are buying.

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Theme: Local Craft
Address: 149 Souq Hamidiyeh
Other Contact: POBox 4700, Damascus

Name of Shop: Tony Stephan and others

Apart from Tony Stephan, there any number of shops selling wonderful textiles in Damascus. The one I like is in the left-hand corner of the courtyard at the Handicraft souq -a tiny little shop, stacked to the roof with jewel-coloured cloths and cushions, spreads and throws. The young men there are so patient and willing to show you yet another one as something else catches your eye.

What To Buy: Lovely, heavy tablecloths in lustrous cotton woven into traditional patterns, cushion covers to pile up on an odalisque's divan, gold-embroidered and tasselled runners and squares to add an exotically luxurious touch at Christmas or any time.

Easy to pack, unbreakable, always useable, textiles like these make perfect souvenirs and gifts

What To Pay: From just a few dollars for a cushion cover or a small mat, to a hundred or more for something big and very special.

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Theme: Home Furnishing
Address: The Handicraft souq, next to Tekkiyeh

What To Buy: Most of the curio shops in Damascus sell these little pictures painted on the pages of old books in imitation of Ottoman and Mughal miniatures. The real thing, if you can find it, will cost you a fortune, but these copies can be quite lovely for a tiny fraction of the price. They usually depict hunting or court scenes and, for the price, are mostly extremely well done. Framed and hanging on a wall, they look good and are a nice reminder of your visit to Syria.

Like all the best souvenirs, they have the advantage of being unbreakable, light and easy to pack.

What To Pay: $10 and up, depending on the quality of the work.

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Theme: Art
Directions: I like the shop opposite the very south-east corner of the Great Mosque, a nice young fellow runs it, and another shop in the Handicraft souq (about halfway down), run by a red-headed chap called Khalid, has a good selection too.

Name of Shop: Chez Olabi

Like all the sweet and spice shops in the souq, this one is filled to bursting with delicious goodies and fragrant spices.
Polished brass canisters hold little mountains of spices and herbs in every colour. Shelves groan with boxes of glace fruits, bright colours showing through their sparkling cellophane packaging; Turkish delight and nougats studded with bright green pistachios; jars of rosepetal and apricot jam; sweets and candies of every description.

Presiding over this abundance of good things is a young man who speaks excellent, colloquial English (and his German is probably just as good) and a nice line in dry wit. He'll have you trying, and buying, his delicious goodies - probably far more than you intended - in no time.

What To Buy: The variety of sweets available is enormous, everything you can possibly think of to do with dried and preserved fruit and nuts, and that's before you even turn to the candy.

The glace fruits are wonderful - tiny mandarins, pears, prunes, prickly pear, baby aubergines, apricots and more - and a fraction of the price you would pay at home. You can choose your favourites for packing in a handsome presentation box or just buy two or three for a little treat.

The nougats and Turkish delight are not overly sweet and are more nut (almond or pistachio) than the sweetmeat that is holding them together.

If you're buying spices, only buy small quantitites -you don't want them getting old and dusty in your pantry. Sumac and pomegranate molasses are the things to buy if you want to take the flavour of Syria home with you.


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Theme: Food and Drink
Phone: 221 4499
Address: Slah Souq
Directions: Slah souq runs at right angles to Souq Bzouriyya. Chez Olabi is just at the corner of where the two souqs meet.

Name of Shop: Azem Ecole and other good shops

The Azem Ecole is an expensive antique and handcraft shop set around the lovely courtyard of an old madrassa. Even if the items for sale are beyond your budget, do look in to see just how good Syrian work can be - it's as far from the trinkets and general tourist tat sold in the Souq Hamidiye as you could imagine. The building itself is worth a look too.

What To Buy: You probably won't see any inlay work of this quality for sale in Damascus, this is a door panel in Beit Na'san, beautiful mother -of -pearl inlaid in cedar. You'll still see good work around but inspect the item you are looking at carefully. Mother-of-pearl has a distinctive iridescent sheen, virtually impossible to fake, so if the pearly inlay looks flat, it's probably plastic. Check the wood too, make sure it's all smooth with good joints -preferably dovetailing rather than just glued edges.
Of course, you'll get what you pay for but if you are prepared to look around and bargain you should find something that will satisy both your taste and your wallet.

What To Pay: A small item , a box or a bookstand maybe will cost in the vicinity of $40 -$50 for something of quality. Of course you can pay much more for something old and particularly beautiful.

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Theme: Local Craft
Directions: Just south of the Souq Bzouniyya

What To Buy: Kashani (Persian-style) pottery is very popular in Syria. Tiles in this style were generally preferred to Turkish Iznik work, though you will see come of that around. The vases, dishes, tiles, flasks and other ornaments are usually glazed in blues and greens. Favoured patterns are doe-eyed houris, flowers, and these comical little fish. The work is very free and spontaneous

What To Pay: Most of what you see is modern, but there are good, old pieces to be had, at a price.

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Theme: Local Craft

Name of Shop: Semiramis

Ask anyone in Damascus (and a lot of other places in the Middle East) "Who makes the best pastries?" and the answer will more than like be Semiramis. They've been making them for over 50 years and they are just perfect. People come from all over Syria, and even from Lebanon, just to shop here when they want something really special.
The shop is always busy, and come Thursday night, before the weekend, it is packed.

What To Buy: Semiramis' specialities are tiny, delicate pastries - backlavas 2cm square packed with pistachios, minute little bird's nests with 3 perfect little pine nut "eggs" nestled in them, melt-in-the-mouth ghraibeh (shortbread), date-filled ma'amoul, crispy sesame coated bara'ze - and lots more. A kilo box contains dozens of these perfect little mouthfuls, laid out in rows of all varieties - what to choose is the dilemma.

What To Pay: $10 a kilo and upwards

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Theme: Food and Drink
Address: Noura Street
Directions: Abou Roumana area
Website: www.semiramispastries.com

What To Buy: There is a wealth of lovely stuff to look at and shop for in Syria, something for every pocket, if not necessarily taste - minimalism and modern industrial hasn't exactly taken off here.

Damascus has been a trading city forever, and a lot of what you will see, especially at the cheaper end of the market, will in fact be imported, usually from India. You'll find a lot of interesting stuff is imported too - from Russian icons to inlaid alms boxes from Ethiopia. However, there is still a strong craft tradition in Syria -metal work, gold and silver, inlaid wood, textiles - there are wonderful things to see and to buy. Prices will vary enormously and, as is the case everywhere, good stuff costs - but it won't cost you as much as it probably would at home, and if you are a skilled bargainer, you will do well.

There is an art to bargaining though, and you have to know when to stop. There is always a price below which the seller will not go. Don't insult him by pushing him to that last little bit. Keep a perspective on the amount involved - it's probably only a dollar or two, or even less.

What To Pay: The website here will give you an idea of what is available in the way of good craft items, and what you can expect to pay.

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Theme: Local Craft
Website: www.syriangate.com