The Friday photo(s): The spice market at the Bastakiya, Dubai

I so wish there was some wizardy technology that could have captured the smell of this place: utterly intoxicating… smoky frankincense… dried roses… spicy dried limes…  I bought as much as I could possibly fit in my suitcase from the baskets and sacks of mysterious, scented and dried goodies…

There were a few surprises too…

but mostly the produce was traditional.  There are those dried limes again:

and can you see the cinnamon sticks at the back of this cart?

The bright yellow ‘fingers’ here are turmeric – then clockwise there’s dried hibiscus, dried camomile, little tiny dried rosebuds, star anise and dried ginger:

I can’t even imagine how much that basket of saffron (top right) is worth…

And here’s that lovely frankincense again.  I brought some back for Poppy’s Mum (well, if it’s good enough for Jesus…):

Here’s the lovely dried limes (loomi) up close:

I’ll need to go back and stock up.  Really soon.

4 Responses to “The Friday photo(s): The spice market at the Bastakiya, Dubai”

1. Rosie Scribble says:

   June 10, 2011 at 10:05 am

   Wow. Fabulous photos. Makes my tiny parsley plant look a bit pathetic!
   • English Mum says:

     June 10, 2011 at 10:21 am

     I killed my mint plant Rosie. We’re green fingered, aren’t we?!
2. Paula Ryan says:

   June 10, 2011 at 4:58 pm

   Can almost smell them! Would love to have some of them dried limes!! The size of the cinnamon sticks!!
   • English Mum says:

     June 10, 2011 at 8:24 pm

     I know – it was all amazing! And the smell… yummm