Sharjah is famous for its souqs or markets, and for a good reason: they are stunning!
I started with the birds and animals market. It was in an old building falling apart, but had a special atmosphere. And it’s the first time I have been in a market specialized in alive animals! The main focus was on birds, and almost any bird could be purchased including doves or colorful parrot-like birds.
What surprised me most where falcon sellers! The UAE are indeed famous for falconry. Falcons were traditionally used for hunting in the desert, but nowadays it has become a popular sport. The falcon is one of the national symbols of the UAE and is the ultimate status symbol! The birds are very expensive and need to be trained for months to be used in competition. I read that they are the only animals that Arab airlines allow to be transported in the cabin and they get their own passports. They are kept most of the time with covered eyes because it’s supposed to calm them.
After the alive animals, I went to the dead animal market: the food market. And what a beautiful market! I expected an old unhygienic market with meat lying in the heat and flies turning around the rotten pieces, but instead, I found a very modern super clean market! One building was dedicated to meat and fish. Unlike our “western” butchers, they had the entire animals on display. I think there is not a single meat part that you couldn’t purchase. Some butchers were happy to see a foreigner, and had fun showing me their favorite item from behind the counter: a cow head! They told me that most of the very special parts like the heads, legs or tails were bought by Africans, who “eat everything”, as they mentioned sarcastically.
I was even more impressed by the fish part. An entire area of the market was dedicated to fish cleaning. You can buy your fresh fish, bring it to the cleaning service, wait in your line – men and women separated – , get a waiting number and wait for your number to appear on the display to get your fileted fish back! In another area, the same principle but for guys who want to eat their fish directly. You can bring it to some cook who cleans and grills it for you!
In the second building, there was a classical fruits and vegetables area. A big part of it was dedicated to dates sellers. And of course, they all wanted me to try their dates! I have this habit as an experienced traveler to ignore all kind of solicitations because I know that giving you a date is the trick to force you to buy 20 kilos… One guy did not seem as aggressive as the others, so I tried one of his dates. He seemed happy that I liked it and wished me all the best for my travel. That’s it… no psychodrama blackmailing!
I ended my market tour with the clothes and souvenir market. It was not so special, although the building itself was quite unique! I admired the women fashion for a bit. It must be hard to decide whether you want to buy the black or the brown abaya…!
Free like a bear 