Another interesting Souk to visit when in the United Arab Emirates, is the Blue Souk in Sharjah emirate. Sharjah is along the coast from Dubai and seems to be much more industrial and not very touristy. It is also a much more conservative place than the very cosmopolitan Dubai.

The Islamic Souk

The Blue Souk is known locally as the Islamic Souk and on the ground floor it’s full of shops selling Islamic clothing for both men & women as well as lots of bling jewellery shops. I love the blue tiled decorations on the outside of the building.

Insistent Assistants

We went upstairs to the 1st, slightly shabbier, floor. This is where you’ll find 100’s of textile and carpet shops, the choice is amazing. The only trouble is that once you enter a shop, the owner is keen not to let you leave empty handed and its very difficult to browse unattended. All the shop assistants are insistent on helping you buy something, whatever it is you want. The only trouble is, that you might not know what you want until you see it!

Luckily we did see it. In the 2nd shop, we found a fabulous silk embroidered kilim, 2 metres by 3 and the perfect size for the middle of the bare tiled floor in our sitting room.

This Iranian carpet has a look that is very different from all the other carpets we’ve bought on our travels (mainly in Turkey). I’ve taken a close up picture of just a section of it. These symbols all have a meaning, so I’m off now to go and do some research into this design.

Feel free to let me know if you recognise any of these symbols and know their meaning.