Iskan Street • جادهی ئێسكان • جادة إسكان
This road is the all-day and all-night bazaar of nothing but tea and fast food. Grab something to drink and eat and sit down to watch football. It is also known as the "men's bazaar" because it is rare for women to mingle here. But foreign women sometimes will join with friends.
جادە إسكان Jada Iskan (Iskan Street) is a socially active street that is open day and night.
إسكان Iskan has an Arabic meaning that is a composite of the English words relieve, shelter, accommodate, and lodge. There is also a quarter by the same name, and also places by the same name can be found in Baghdad. Along a few blocks of Iskan Street is as much chai, shwarma and lohum as a person could ever want. Sometimes set one right after another, the chaikhana seats fill the sidewalks and spill into the streets, with rows of chairs extending even into adjacent alleyways. Attached to the chai shops are, like barnacles on boulders, various carts vending shucked pomegranates, music (which blare out tunes to provide a soundtrack to Iskan Street), clothes, fast food, and many other goods. There are also plenty of practical businesses serving the crowds, from a shoe polisher every block or so on his chair or mat, to the one high-gloss, polished suit shop, and of course the various telecom shops selling Korek refills and various handsets. There is also Hamam Iskan, which is clean and pleasant, with a good ambiance that generally includes families and groups of friends.