Saida is a short bus ride south of Beirut. It has an oriental-looking old town, in the center of which are the Souks.

I would describe Souks as a kind of big market that is built into a vault-like structure. The individual market stalls are nothing more than small shops that offer certain goods. You move in tight covered streets between them. And you can get lost in it quite well.

There are many more market stalls and shops in the streets around the Souks of Saida. Everything is full of people, sounds and smells.

I was 2014 in Beirut and Saida in 2014. Just before the Islamic State got stronger, before the huge explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut and before Hezbollah strengthened significantly. I only felt really safe in the very busy areas of the two cities. Which, however, does not mean anything. If you think of bombings by suiciders, they take place exactly in busy areas.

The photos were taken with the Fujifilm X100S. The X100S was the second version of the camera series, which had significant improvements in speed and handling compared to the first.