Manama Souq

cinnamon sticks upper right

multiple layered spices


star anise
various nuts and spices, candy on top







The Souq is my new favorite place to shop. You can find anything here. The fabric stores are amazing with tons of fabric to choose from, you can have a skirt, suit, etc. made for half the price as the malls. The picture of the big white sculpture is the entrance to the souq. But the best thing here, for me, is the spice souq. All you have to do is smell your way around and you'll eventually be led to the spices. They have the largest star anise I've ever seen, not to mention tons of saffron for a great price, so needless to say I stocked up on some saffron. The cinnamon sticks, are the largest I've ever seen, they look like mini logs. They also make this spice, which I've seen all around Bahrain, it's multiple spices layered on top of each other. They also have tons of varieties of candies in their spice shops. You can haggle a little bit here also and if the vendor is nice, he'll throw in some free candy if you buy some spices!

Typhoon

This is our new favorite bar to go to. It's at the Gulf Hotel and right next to the pool. So, after we sweat a little bit at the pool in the sunshine, we head over to Typhoon to get drinks. They serve, what I think to be, the best mojitos and caipirinas I've ever had. The setting is so nice with the water and the fish surrounding the bar. It makes you feel like you're on vacation!

Schwarma Alley - Adliya

This is Schwarma Alley where you can find just about anything you need from antiques, to decorations, to decorative glass lights and rugs. The rugs here are so beautiful. We decided to buy a few since they are half the price as they would be in the states. The more knots per area, the higher the price goes up. The names of the artist are stitched in Arabic on the rug and some, the more expensive types have silk sewn in them. These rugs can run anywhere from $20,000 to $200 just depending on size, craftmanship, etc. In these places you are allowed to haggle and we've become quite good at it. We shopped around nearly a dozen rug stores to compare prices, never take the first offer! They love to give you a deal if you're the first customer of the day, but you need to make sure you're still getting a deal.

Coco's

This is one of our new favorites. It's a great place to go for lunch and sit outside on a nice day. We love the different drinks they have here. You get Coca-Cola in a glass bottle and iced tea in a mini pitcher. The drink list alone here is huge. Coco's has fresh juices, sodas, milkshakes, thousands of coffees to choose from, it's great. The menu is a little bit of everything, a little too much if you ask me, but you can never go wrong with the pasta here. Although, they ask you if you want it American style, which we said yes because we had no idea what that was. Little did we know, that means pile on the sauce!