Into the Souks of Marrakech

Just behind the Djemaa el Fna of Marrakech loom the souks, a twisted maze of a marketplace where merchants sell “typical Moroccan goods”: brightly colored slippers, lavish carpets, polished wooden pieces, tea sets, ceramics, jewelry, olives and mint leaves, spices, smelling salts, and salves. Hassling and haggling are a way of life in this mercantile manor, and the average tourist must be prepared for the game of supply and demand that await you at each turn of the corner. In the souks, people pass you by just as quickly as the first price a shopkeeper offers for a brass lamp. And in spite of the overwhelming pressures to purchase a trinket here and a souvenir there, it is undeniably the place to see, taste, touch and learn about the fabric of Moroccan life.