Shopping in Morocco is a unique and exciting experience. Souks are the traditional marketplaces and are often divided into sections for the various trades. You'll see herbalists, spice sellers, metal workers, tanners, and food markets congregated on trade-specific streets. Souks are a maze of alleys and narrow streets, and it's easy to get lost.
When the first souks appeared within Morocco, they were nothing more than small areas outside the city for merchants to display and sell their goods. Yet, as city populations grew, so did the souks. Today souks have become an important part of the culture socially and act as the heart of any large Moroccan city.
No visit to Morocco would be complete without exploring the medinas (walled cities with maze-like streets) of Marrakech, Fès and Ouarzazate. Unlike shopping in the West, where people tend to visit local retailers, in Morocco a shopping trip involves visiting the old medina, and various souks (markets) within them that sell specific goods ranging from clothing, to fabrics, shoes, food and carpets. Since most foreign currencies are strong in comparison to the Moroccan dirham, you can go on an extensive shopping spree and purchase various local Moroccan handicrafts such as Moroccan leather work, carpets, jewelry of silver, gold and copper along with ancient embroideries and basketwork.
Souks and markets are a major featurein Moroccan life, and among the country’s greatest attractions. Each major city and town in Morocco has a special souk quarter. Villages in the country side also have local souks which are usually held one day each week in an open field or outside the towns kasbah walls. Large cities like Marrakesh and Fès have labyrinths of individual souks (each filling a street or square that is devoted tone particular craft). The city of Marrakesh, Fès and Ouarzazate are famous for their beautiful souks- which are Morocco’s posh and huge shopping centers. Some of the best buys in Morocco are dates, leather ware, handicrafts, carpets, pottery, wood carvings, traditional dress (djellabas) and various food products.
Souks and markets are also a daily destination where locals shop for fresh meat, vegetables, household goods and other items that Americans for example, purchase at Wal-Mart or Target. In the country side, you can find large numbers of weekly souks (markets). A new alternative to souks in Morocco is Marjane, a Moroccan hypermarket chain, found in large cities like Marrakech, Casablanca, Agadir, Fès, Tétouan and Tangier. Marjane is the “Moroccan Target” and sells a wide variety of items such as food, clothing, liquor, electronics and other household goods.
Whether or not you are a big shopper, visiting a souk is a cultural experience that should not be missed on a trip to Morocco.
ITINERARY
DAY 1: CASABLANCA
►Have breakfast in a local café, visit the Hassan Mosque, and then take the road directly to Fès. Once in Fès you will unpack at your hotel, rest and then have dinner in Fès Novelle.
DAY 2: TOUR FES EL BALI & AROUND
►After breakfast you will begin your guided tour of the Fès medina.
►Fès is separated into three parts, Fès el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah), and the Ville Nouvelle (the French-created, newest section of Fes). The Medina of Fès el Bali is believed to be the largest contiguous car-free urban area in the world. To enter the medina, you will pass through the Bab Boujeloud gateYou will explore the medina’s narrow streets lined with local shops and stalls of fresh fruit, mounds of spices, intricately woven Berber carpets and many other Moroccan handicrafts and home goods. Fès has two main streets, “Rue Talaa Kebira “ and the “Rue Talaa Seghira “ which are utilized as the main throughways when exploring the medina- and the mysterious maze-like streets in between. The Fès medina is a labyrinth of sloping, winding alleyways are crammed full of stalls and workshops. This area is known as the famed Kissaria -the commercial centerFès Medina produces its own specialty goods: cobalt blue enameled pottery, carpets, wrought iron ... one looks on as the dyer stirs his yarns, steeped in their multitude of colors, as the tanner tramples his skins under an open sky -skins that the leather-worker will eventually adorn with fine gilt for book-binding. . A multitude of locally produced goods are on sale including cotton fabric, silk, brocade work, slippers, and many more. Each district in the , with its decoration of blue and green faiences.
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