Named for the Ottoman governor Midhat Pasha, who reformed the Damascus markets in the 1870s, this is the long covered souq that runs east along the line of the Roman Via Recta. It begins at Bab al-Jabiyah and continues east through covered and open sections to reach the Christian quarter, becoming Straight Street near its eastern end.
The mix of stalls is broader and more day-to-day than the Hamidiyah Souq: clothing, sandals, kitchen utensils, household textiles, sweets. Smaller side-alleys lead off to specialised markets — copper, brass, gold and the silk market with its 18th-century Khan al-Harir.