The Marrakesh Souks

When I was headed to Marrakesh everyone who had been there said you must see the souks. Hire a guide or  you’ll get lost in the souks and you’ll never get out. I thought what are these souks and are they scary? So I did some research and found that they are narrow streets covered with slated boards to keep the suns heat away which does make them seem more intimidating. 

So I took the time to really study the layout of these narrow street but if you are direction challenged or afraid of getting lost you may want to hire a guide. But note guides will take you to shops where they get commissions from the owners.

Rue Souk Smarine

 When I got to the souks in Marrakesh the narrow streets looked like long thin caves. They were still quite warm with sellers standing or sitting outside their booths calling to passer bys trying to get them to come in and see their wares. Each booth was divided from the next booth by thin walls covered in merchandise. Each street or area is known for a certain type of item like slippers, leather goods, dyed fabric, jewelry, lighting and much more. One of the things I found most fascinating is that booth after booth in say for example the slipper area had all the same slippers, no variety at all. Why would you buy in one booth over another? This was the same for each souk.

Souk des Babouches

Was it tradition that causes this lack of variety? Is it lack of women’s input? Are these proven best sellers? Who knows? But it helps you to bargain quite well, just start at a crazy low price because you can always try the next booth.

The Souk Haddadine

Souk des Bijoutiers

Rahba Kedima (apothecary stalls)

This is a recipe I was give by one of the stalls to help fight cancer
one kilo cactus organic honey
60 grams of wild jelly (from bees)
100 grams of pollen (from bees)
25 grams black seed Nigella
take tbs 2 times a day
take once in morning and once at night
Do not eat any animal products or milk.
Fish is OK.

                                             
                                                                             

Souk Loghzal

               This is my favorite souk of all because of it's beautiful colors and I love the dying process. 

                                                            Souk des Teinturiers

                                                    (the dyers souk)

These are the powders used in the dyeing process.

                                   

This is the wool before dyeing.

Here is the dye in the pot they were doing red when we stopped by. I showed interest and they gave us a full tour.  It was wonderful.

They took us to the roof and showed us where they dried the yarn.

More drying yarn.

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