Getting lost in the souks
Inconceivable to stay in Marrakech without succumbing to the wandering in the picturesque and abundant alleys of the famous souks. Getting lost is the rule!
“It is spicy in the souks, and cool and colourful, …” wrote Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize in Literature, after his visit to Marrakech in 1953.
The atmosphere of the souks as he describes it in his book «The voices of Marrakech» seems unchanged since that time.
The “souk” is simply a “market”, sometimes called “bazaar”.
In the red city, it is behind the legendary Jemaa el Fna square that the souk weaves its web.
By the various entrances from Jemaa El Fna Square, you can start your journey. The souks have also spread in some surrounding streets such as Riad Zitoun Jdid or Riad Zitoun Kedim.
Here the large «market» unfolds, sometimes in open air, most often in the middle of a maze of shady alleys where the rays of light create an enchanting atmosphere.
Senses alert
Going to the souks is not just going to bargain for this or that object.
It is rather a total and quite exciting experience.
It can be said that the five senses are well served. The abundance of goods, the accumulations of products cleverly presented, the overflowing stalls constitute an extraordinary spectacle.
Haggling
So open your eyes, your nostrils, your ears and your mind. Keep a smile on your face, it is the essential passport for any meeting and negotiation. Of course, haggling is a rule but it’s more like a game. Elias Canetti” No one knows in advance what the price will be, not even the merchant because in any case there many prices. Each one relates to a different situation, a different customer, a different time of the day, a different day in th week….One is tempted to think that there are more kinds of prices than there are kinds of people in the world”
Sometimes things have the price of time spent together or the quality of the human relationship. By the end, everyone will be happy with the transaction and think he is the winner!
Your eyes, wide open, will gaze at the whole range of existing colors, your enlarged nostrils will smell irresistible scents of spices or citrus, your ears will hear unusual sounds and noises of workshop, and you will have to sharpen your mind to prepare it for the subtle game of bargaining.
Profusion… everything is in abundance!
Too often we tend to believe that the souks have been created for tourists just with a commercial purpose. Not at all! This is absolutely not the case. Souks have been around forever, long before tourists regularly discovered and invaded them, and the activity is the same, with or without the presence of the tourists.
So you can see many local families coming from all over the medina to shop there. In addition to tourist souvenirs, handicrafts, carpets, antique furniture, jewellery, ceramics, lanterns, fabrics and leather goods, they will also find the widest choice of everyday goods, clothing, dishes, household linen, shoes, scarves, belts, bags…
In Marrakech, the souks are divided into different sectors according to the activities that are grouped there.
The leather souk, the copper souk, the dyers’ souk, the wool souk, the musical instruments’ souk, the cabinetmakers and carpenters’ souk, the tanners’ souk, the blacksmiths’ and coppersmiths’ corner, the babouches’ souk and the spices’ souk, olives and preserved lemons.
It is interesting to move between the districts where objects are made and the sales places that border each other.
The art of showing
One might think that the “bazaarists” of Morocco invented the art of accumulation. Artistic, scholarly arrangements are near more disorderly presentations. The combinations of colours or materials are studied. The alignments are prepared every morning as soon as shops open. They offer to the sight of the visitor, walker and potential buyer, hundreds of objects but the hidden stocks are just as full. Saturation, swelling, dizziness.
Some shopping areas are spectacular and colorful to attract the customer, others, where objects are made, are less shiny but equally captivating.
Friendliness
It will be very easy for you to communicate with the artisans or merchants who are waiting for these moments and it will be impossible for you to refuse the glass of mint tea which will be so kindly offered to you. The conversations flow easily, everyone speaks a little bit of “French, Spanish, Italian, English?” ” Que tal, ça va bien, tutto bene, How are you today ?”
A real Tower of Babel. They can tell a few words in Japanese, Chinese, or Portuguese, or Breton like “Kenavo“, no problem!
The main thing is the human interaction, to spend a little moment together, with humor and quick jokes.
And if the deal is successfully closed, all is well in the best of all worlds!
