Shah Mansur Bazaar

Shah Mansur, known to everyone as the Green Bazaar, is the main food market of Dushanbe: a covered hall and the streets around it selling fruit from the valleys, dried apricots and mulberries, nuts, spices piled in cones, bread from tandoor ovens, meat, dairy and everything else. Autumn brings the fruit harvest and the stalls are at their fullest then. Bargaining is normal and the traders are used to being asked to taste.

What to look for

• The dried fruit stalls - apricots, mulberries, raisins and nuts by the sack.
• The spice cones - piles of spice built up on the counters.
• The tandoor bread - non baked in clay ovens and sold hot.
• The autumn harvest - the fullest season for fruit from the valleys.

When to go

Year round; autumn is the best for fruit. Mornings are busiest and best stocked. It winds down in the afternoon.

Practical notes

It is crowded and pickpocketing happens. Photography of people needs asking. The meat and dairy sections are pungent and not for everyone.

Nearby

Rudaki Avenue is nearby, and the National Museum is west.