SHARJAH // At first glance, the 200-year-old Souq Al Arsa inside Sharjah's Heritage Area may look like any traditional Arabian marketplace.
But for those who know its story, have seen it open for business throughout the decades, and who regularly take a break inside its only coffee shop, it was one of the first places to show the spirit of a "free-zone" market.
In 1955, when Khalifa Al Saif was just 10, he and two friends headed to Souq Al Arsa a few days before Eid to buy sweets and find the best cloths to bring back to their mothers, who would sew and stitch the material into Eid clothes.
Carrying a few rupees, the three children had choices of cloth carried by "transit" merchants who came from across the sea on dhows, or those who came on camels from across the desert.
These merchants would have free spots in the Al Arsa Saha, or courtyard. Local merchants had permanent, tiny wooden stalls inside the souq.
"You really had to watch your step as you made your way through the parked camels, donkeys and piles of merchandise put on display on the floor of the souq, " said Mr Al Saif, 66. "It was the city centre of Sharjah."
A team from Sharjah's Department of Culture and Information will propose this old neighbourhood as a world heritage site to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
By next April, the team hopes to have collected enough information to start putting together a formal file.
"Anyone stepping inside this area is transported back to the way people lived, prayed, studied and made a living," says Dr Parween Arif, the folklore expert at the department and chair of the special local committee working on the Unesco file.
"You can sit in one of the homes' courtyard and simply take it all in and relax."
The homes, built of coral and gypsum, are open for viewing. Visitors can even see the washroom, called "al Adab", derived from a term that means etiquette.
The peaceful, two-storey houses are a great contrast to the structures in the souq.
The souq, along with 85 structures of what is collectively known as "Old Sharjah", includes homes of prominent Emirati families, mosques, informal schools that were once presided over by a mutawa or religious cleric, and a house with the UAE's only circular wind tower.
Anyone coming to the area can still see the majlis of the writer Ibrahim Al Midfa, where the first newspaper of the Trucial States was launched in 1927.
It is just a few steps from Al Eslah school, the UAE's first formal institute.
The school opened 75 years ago and was attended by the Ruler of Sharjah. The school and the majlis are now museums.
Inside the twisted alleys of the souq, roofed over by African sandalwood and palm fronds and kept cool by barajeel or wind towers, there are shops carrying goods ranging from clothes to tools to piles of tobacco.
In the centre of the souq, a money-exchange stall that has lasted to this day was built with the biggest wind tower to accommodate its regulars, the richest merchants in the region.
Life revolved around this open market for the residents and travellers who came to take advantage of it.
After the formation of the UAE in 1971, the camels and donkeys disappeared and air conditioning was introduced. But the reliance on the souq remained, with Mr Al Saif regularly dropping in on his scooter to do his shopping there for his mother.
"She would give me Dh10 and I would buy many sacks of mango, tomato and all sorts of things, with that little money," he said, recalling the 1980s. "Al baqi? [The rest?] she would demand. Even if it was just a dirham."
While the original residents of the area have long left their homes for modern ones nearby, they still come back to the souq to run their family shops.
"The souq was born out of a need and it allowed for anyone to just come and showcase their products or even talents without penalties," said Dr Abdul Sattar Al Azzawi, an archaeologist who has overseen renovations of the area for more than 20 years.
"It was an open market and hence its name, Al Arsa - an old, forgotten term that used to be given to open ground without an owner."
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Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
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- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Jordan cabinet changes
In
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- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
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- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
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Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
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Torque: 760Nm
Price: From Dh280,000
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
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JOKE'S%20ON%20YOU
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