|
Jordan
/ Amman / Shopping
Amman has
shopping facilities ranging from bazaars to boutiques. You may
find such diversity as haute couture from Paris, leather goods
from Turkey, casual clothes from Italy and traditional dress from
the Bedouin tribes people. Craft shops specialize in many handmade
items, varying from old jewellery and hand-stitched fabrics to
sand-painting and hand-blown glassware.
Some of the
better shops sell kaftans, many of which are splendid garments,
sewn with gold or silver thread and beautifully hand-embroidered.
Some machine-work is done on these garments, but most are completely
hand-sewn and are made in local villages.
Amman is
also famous for its downtown gold souk (market) in the centre
of the city and bordering on King Feisal Street. Few of the narrow
walkways in the souk have names and many of the shops are not
numbered. All are within easy walking distance of each other,
however, and the area is easy to locate. Here the price of gold
is at a fixed rate per gram, based on the current world market.
The cost of workmanship on a particular piece is added to give
the retail price.
Bargaining
is a dying custom in Amman, and in the Kingdom generally, as most
shops have fixed prices. Keepers of souvenir shops and in the
downtown souk, however, still welcome the opportunity to haggle
over prices.
Back
to Asiatour
|
