We flew into Bahrain, the smallest Gulf State, in the mid-afternoon on January 14, 2026. After checking into our hotel, we wandered the souq and then ate dinner in a cafe in an alley way. We could watch the cooks sear our bread in a red-hot clay oven.
Our local Bahraini guide welcomed us with fresh dates when we arrived at the airport. Dates are one of the main crops of the Gulf States, and there are dozens of varieties. We were told that dates have many minerals and can even prevent cancer!
The Manana, Bahrain souq extended for many blocks. Alleys were lined with tiny shops, lit up brightly on this cool evening.
Fragrance is important to Arabs, and there were perfume stores throughout the souq and, also, throughout the malls we typically visited for lunch. Frankinsense is grown in the Gulf States, and is turned into perfume. Oud, another substance from the Gulf, is also made into perfumes. We paused at a perfume shop as the clerk showed us how to heat frankinsense in a decorative holder, and then to let the sweet smoke fill the room.
This shopkeeper sold us frankinsense and small holders to light it in. His specialty was also perfume.
Other shops were filled with scarves and fabrics. There were great prices on shawls from India. I bought four of them for $5 each for table runners for my Middle East dinner party. They were, improbably, stamped "cashmere."
Beneath those black abayas were women with a love of splendor and ornament. There were more fancy dresses than any American woman would wear!
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