The street we sought was a short stroll inland from the quay. Amin hurried ahead; Uthman and I followed dutifully. We came to the best suq in Tyre, the one that featured the highest-quality merchandise at the most expensive prices. In the suq we passed the jewelry stall of Abu Uthman; a few paces beyond it was a large, airy, well-arranged shop featuring unguents, medicines, and perfumes."

In this quote, Mahmud describes the Sharie al-Khalifa, which is a street in Tyre along the quay (docks). This street is where many wealthy people of Tyre have their shops, and includes the best suq (marketplace) in Tyre. It is here that Nasir had set up his shop, and was obviously very well off to have such a nice business in such an expensive and well-renowned place. This street is very wealthy area, and very important to the plot of the story. It was in Tyre that Nasir and Mahmud met, and where Nasir made much of his fortune.

I trailed through the city’s huge bazaar, listening as Jihha gossiped and bargained with shopkeepers. I kept both my ears wide open as he conducted whole sale business with traveling merchants right in the courtyards of khans and caravansaries, where the cloth, dried fruit, and licorice roots of Aleppo itself were traded for the wealth of the world.

After traveling from al-Anbar, the caravan that Buran was traveling on reached Aleppo. Here, Buran learned all she could about trading and such from Jihha by listening. This was the first large trading city that Buran went to, and she learned much from it. After traveling from Aleppo with the caravan, they went to Antioch. After Antioch, they traveled to Ladhiqiyah, Beirut, and then Damascus. From Damascus Buran traveled to Tyre, where she set up her business as the man Nasir. At every location she went to, she learned something about the trade and the people by listening and learning, and Jihha taught her much about business.

What I bought in Damascus I sold first in Tripoli and then in Antioch. Antioch is famous for its vineyards, but there was no demand for wine where I was going, so I left that product for purchase by the traders heading for Egypt and the mysterious foreign cities of the west. Instead, I departed with vials of essence pressed from the lilies that fill the fields surrounding the city, and bales of licorice root."

After leaving Tyre, Buran goes to Alexandria, where she meets her cousin Hassan. After leaving Alexandria, she goes to Cyprus, where she meets her other cousin Ali. She stayed and did business there for a while, and then left to go to Sidon. After trading in Sidon, she went to Damascus, then to Antioch. After Antioch she went to Aleppo. Everywhere she went she bought items that were fairly common in one area, and brought them to a new area to sell at a much higher price. Since she was no longer disguised as a woman, she had others do the actual business while she conducted it all from behind veils. She made more money by traveling and selling herbs and perfumes and other items in six months then two years in Tyre. Although she did not know, Mahmud was trying to follow her the entire time, but eventually lost her trail before finding her again back at Baghdad.

After leaving al-Anbar, Buran went to Aleppo. At Aleppo Buran learned lots about trading from Jinha. Aleppo is also one of the largest trading cities.