Sunday, March 09, 2008

Souq al Goma'a

At this open air bazaar the prices are the lowest one's and you can always try to bargain for a better price!

Some call it a big junkyard but the true is that you can find almost everything, you just need time and patience to find in the middle of this chaotic market the item you're aiming for.

Situated beneath and around the perimeter of the autostrada's Tonsi bridge, the Souk el Goma'a (meaning friday market), extends from the nearby tombs of al-Wazir and Sayeda Aicha to the Citadel. The Souq, along of what used to be Cairo's first and legendary suburban railway line, is not an ordinary market. Where you can find from bidets to old toilet seats, some of them quite new, and all sorts of electronic gadgets, like telephone, PC screens, fans, and whatever you are looking for this is the place where you can find it.

When you're used to markets like Khan al-Khalili full of souvenirs from Egypt and with tourists all over the place and you want to fell the real taste of an "Egyptian" market this is the place to go. And don't mind the smell or people around big piles of litter searching and recycling the smallest of the objects. And what remains of the railway line is just a pair of rails.