Old Jeddah's Bab Makkah Souk

Jeddah, like many cities around the world, has a really interesting mix of ultra-modern and absolutely ancient. Less than a century ago, Jeddah was a completely walled in small city, boarded up at night to keep its residents safe from outsiders. Its location was significant because of its close proximity to the holy city Makkah, the caravan routes, and its position on the Red Sea.



There were four gates - North, East, South and West - where people could enter or leave the city. The walls have long since come down and Jeddah has grown to an important sprawling commercial metropolis. The famous gates have been replicated in various places around town as a nod to the city's history, and one of the gates is located in Old Jeddah, which is also called Al-Balad. To read a bit more about this area and to see more photos, take a look at the last post I did on Old Jeddah and the Al-Balad district.


In the oldest part of the city is, of course, its oldest surviving souk, which is called Bab Makkah. In Arabic, this means "door to Mecca" or "gateway to Mecca." I have been to Bab Makkah several times, mostly in the daytime. My brother-in-law (BIL) loves to point out the old house he and my husband grew up in, the old schools they attended which are in disrepair but still functioning, and the graveyard where their dad is buried - which is inaccessible because it is surrounded by the souks (shops or markets). I try to imagine how it must have been back then when we didn't have all of today's modern conveniences and wonder how I would have managed. But then again, I grew up in an adobe house without air conditioning in the heat of Arizona, so I'm thinking I probably would have survived in this desert too! Somehow we must adapt...


Narrow streets that are barely wide enough for a single car to drive through are lined with colorful shop after colorful shop, offering everything imaginable under the sun. If one wants to go when it is not crowded, the least busy time to go is in the morning during the week during Ramadan, the month out of the year when Muslims do not eat or drink anything at all during the daylight hours. My BIL and my hubby enjoy going down to Bab Makkah during Ramadan to get certain traditional supplies in bulk for various branches of the family, like olive oil, cheeses, and tahini, claiming that the prices are considerably cheaper there. Since it is a long drive down to Bab Makkah - about 45 minutes in good traffic or more than an hour in busy traffic - the rest of the year they usually opt to get these supplies at shops a bit closer to home.


The grocery souks here are so small and crowded that the customers actually have to stand at a counter outside the shop to place their orders and cannot enter the well stocked and crowded shops. Every vendor specializes in only certain products that they sell. One vendor sells only dates, another one sells only nuts or olives, and still others have only meats, or spices or shoes. And the businesses here thrive! There are no taxes and no continual fees for business licenses or occupancy or health inspections to be paid, so small businesses here actually have a much better chance of surviving. And what's more, since the business owners are not nickeled and dimed to death by the government, they don't gouge the customers and the prices they charge are very reasonable and they still manage to make a profit.


Recently we visited Bab Makkah for the first time at night - and not during the weekend - and let me tell you, this place was hopping! Throngs of people bustled about like busy little ants, shopping, working, eating, laughing. Most women were dressed from head to toe in black, although I did see a few African women wearing their colorful native dress. Most of the men were dressed either in the traditional Saudi long white loose-fitting dress, called a thobe, or in the two piece Pakistani traditional dress which consists of very loose long pants topped by a matching big loose shirt that extends down to the knees. The smell of incense permeated the evening air. Bumper to bumper vehicles moving at a snail's pace tried to worm their way through the narrowly tight and overly-crowded streets. It was nearly midnight on a school night and the buzz of activity didn't appear as though it would be letting up any time soon.


Bab Makkah is a place where you negotiate the price with the vendor - you never, ever pay the first price you are quoted. My husband is a natural at haggling over the price with the vendors, but not me. Where I grew up, the prices were marked and that was the price you paid, although right across the border was Mexico, where haggling was commonplace - but unfortunately for me, I still never got the hang of it!


We stopped at a meat vendor's little shop - just to look - and I was astounded by the sight of animals parts I had never even seen offered for sale before - animal parts like hooves, and testicles, and hearts, and kidneys - all sitting out in the warm open air and not refrigerated. We have never purchased any of the meat here, but it is interesting to look at these meats that I haven't had much prior experience with! The presentation is so totally different than the supermarkets back home in America that I am used to. These organ meats are not covered with plastic wrap or kept on ice and just sit in a large plastic bowl out on a table, flies buzzing around freely. My hubby says that when you cook the meats you cook out any bacteria or other germs that might have been present anyway... uh, okay...


On another trip down to Bab Makkah, I was lucky enough to snap a photo of a fellow walking through the marketplace, carrying a huge piece of meat, which he was delivering to one of the meat vendors. He held onto it with his bare hands (no plastic gloves), had it slung over his shoulder and down his back, laying right on his shirt! You just don't see stuff like this where I'm from and I find it fascinating. Hmmm ... I wondered what he smelled liked by the end of his work day ... pity the poor wife who does his laundry!


At one of the spice and incense souks, my BIL purchased two Islamic burial kits - one for a man and the other one for a woman - to donate to a mosque. Each kit consisted of a large box containing everything needed for a proper Islamic burial. Included in the kit were several large pieces of white cloth for shrouding the body, strips of tie cloths, a particular soap for washing the body, a distinct body scrub, some special herbs and spices, disposable gloves, incense, and lots of cotton balls for stuffing into the body's cavities. Islam is very specific about the procedures to follow when someone dies. Muslims are buried as soon as possible and are usually buried in just the shroud - no coffins, and no tombstones.


Also at the spice vendors, huge blocks of various spicy incense are then broken up by hammer into smaller chunks. You can imagine the pleasant scents that emanate from the spice shops! These shops are also loaded with hair products like henna, herbal remedies, and perfumes and oils, stacked from floor to ceiling.


Another vendor's booth has a hanging display of strung dates which look like the old time weiners that used to hang in the butcher shop. Others offer knockoffs of jewelry, perfumes and purses, while down the block you can get all the latest in cell phones or other electronic products. Handmade carts are laden with fresh fruits and vegetables, or socks and underwear, or leather belts.


I enjoy going down to Bab Makkah Souk - it's always an interesting and fascinating time - but I have learned one thing. I'll never go there again during Ramadan in the middle of the day. I almost passed out from a combination of the brutal heat and the fasting! I honestly don't know how the other women there do it - having to wear the black abaya and not being able to at least drink water. Well, come to think of it - I don't know how the men can do it either!