To reach Islamic Cairo from downtown, you can walk the one kilometre from Ataba Square along crowded Muski Street, or just take a taxi and be whisked along the Al-Azhar overpass. Either way you end up around Al-Hussein Square, on the fringes of one of the world’s oldest shopping districts, the bazaar of Khan al-Khalili. This is Cairo at its most frenetic and seductive: the Cairo of Ali Baba and Aladdin, loud with the sound of bargaining.

To an extent, the type of goods on offer have changed surprisingly little over the centuries. The slave market closed in 1870, and no longer do you find silk, jewels, or diamonds, but cloth remains important. The aroma of spices is vey much present on Al-Muizz li-Din Allah Street, where stalls are heaped with variously coloured powders and sacks of seeds and pods.

Whatever you are buying, expect to bargain. It is a ritual of the bazaar, equally applicable to local Egyptian customers and foreign visitors. There are no hard-and-fast rules except one, which is that if you do not bargain, then you will certainly end up paying seriously over the odds.