An ‘off-the-beaten-track post’ this morning. They call it the Souq el-Tayeb, which I translate as the ‘Market of the tasty things’, or ‘good things’, but they (the organization) call it a Farmer’s Market. It is the only market (as in the Dutch ‘markt’) that I know of in Lebanon. 
The baker
It isn’t very big, probably because their prices are not competitive in the ‘market sense’ of the word. They are actually a little above the regular supermarket prices, but that is because they offer home-grown products only, and most of it is either organic, comes from small family businesses, or both. Some of the things, like the brown bread, you cannot find anywhere but here.
The imker selling his honey. He brought in a display case with real bees too.
He had some cedar honey; nice stuff
The only exception (as far as above the market price goes) were the roses; Lebanese roses, and for 1,000 pounds a piece only. That is definitely well below the price in the flower shops here, and they were absolutely beautiful.
The flower lady
If you live in Lebanon, I’d say check out their web site, and drop by on a Saturday morning in Saifi Village (that is downtown). It’s well worth it. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and today the high school band of the American School here in town played as well, so there was music too.
The ACS High School Band
Lebanon in general is a reasonably relaxed society, but whenever you get to popular events or places where there is a lot of crowd, one of the main purpose of many people becomes ‘to be seen’. And to ‘be seen’ means you’ve got to come dressed up, with all your paraphernalia in full force. This often results in a rather constipated ambiance, with push-up bras, stiletto heels, lots of flashy jewelry, and razor sharp fingernails. It’s an interesting phenomena to observe, but not on a Saturday morning at 10 o’clock. None if this (yet) at the Souk el-Tayeb however.
They have several 'sages' too,which bakes a special type of bread.
4 comments:
lovely photos!
lovely photos!
I love this souk. Next time I go and see you there, I'll make sure I say hi ;)
oh, the see-and-be-seen culture. I nearly died the first time I went to the mall here (ABC)- I was so, so, so under-dressed.
I was recently told the French term for it: "tu m'as vu/e?" which I like as it is so much more direct. emphasis on the being seen, even more than the seeing.
I haven't been to the souk but am thinking i might start going to the thursday afternoon one, on my way home from work. brown bread is an added enticement!
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