I also love visiting souqs; they're always a treasure trove of sights and sounds and experiences, tunnelling through stone archways and branching out into a hundred alleys.

One moment, colourful woven verandas form a roof overhead, the next moment you step into a pool of blazing light beaming down upon you, and in another moment you're walking through cool shade, sidestepping other people, carts, mopeds, stray cats, and little tables of diners and vendors with carts bearing everything imaginable.

You also get the sense that souqs are, at heart, timeless. The wares and fashions may change, but souqs feel like they exist in a liminal space, and at any moment I'm always convinced I'll bump into someone from a very different time, a hundred years past or a hundred years from now, just rounding the corner.