Bur Dubai Souk and the Creek

You are in the oldest souk in Bur Dubai, on the bank of the Creek. Look at the water: that tongue of sea reaching a few kilometres inland is the city’s reason for being. It was a sheltered natural harbour, and markets grew up on both banks, Bur Dubai on this side and Deira opposite.

1Fabrics, spices and dhows

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn by pearl wealth and the port’s tax advantages, merchants arrived from Persia and India. Dhows, the wooden sailing ships of the Gulf, sailed into the Creek laden with rice, spices and textiles from India and the coast of East Africa. This souk still specialises in fabrics, and many shops belong to families of Indian origin who have been in Dubai for generations.

2Crossing the water

Until 1963, when Al Maktoum Bridge opened, getting to Deira meant taking an abra or going all the way round the Creek. The abras are still the city’s oldest form of public transport: wooden boats, once rowed and now motorised, that cross in a few minutes.

In the late 1950s, Sheikh Rashid took on debt to dredge the Creek so that larger ships could enter.

That gamble, completed in the early 1960s and made before oil, multiplied the port’s traffic and is one of the keys to Dubai’s take-off.

3What to look for

• The wooden roof over the souk’s main street.
• The abras and the way they cross the water.
• The dhows moored on the Deira bank, if one is unloading.