Market of Marrakesh

Coming from Western Europe a trip to Morocco is already a little bit of an adventure itself. The culture, the buildings, the people, the food, nothing looks like we are used to it at home and even if it is just a few hours of flight away, landing in Morocco feels like diving into another world. There are so many exciting things to see, experience and discover! Today I want to share with you one of my favourite things about Morocco, more precisely of its capital Marrakesh: the Marrakesh market, a shopping adventure, Moroccan style.

There is not actually one big market in the old town of Marrakesh, but it is full of little streets packed with cute shops and market stands, filled with everything that hearts long for. Especially the district around the famous Jemaa el-Fnaa square is a great place to wander around and stroll through the market shops.

There is something for everybody: leathery bags, colourful shoes, beautiful lamps, jewelry and the typical teapots. The products are sometimes of really good quality, for example real leather, and often they sell hand-made things, that are made outside of Marrakesh in the heartland of Morocco. A Moroccan specialty are the multiple spice- and tea shops. The colourful spices are piled up in huge amounts in front of the stores and create a beautiful picture that does not only look good, but also fills the streets with exotic smells.

What a lot of people like doing at the markets in Morocco is to bargain. Actually you are stupid if you don’t! Most things are a lot cheaper in Morocco than in Europe, but the vendors like to sell them to European prices (especially if you are very European looking like me! ), even if they are worth a lot less in Morocco. So if you ask a vendor for the price of something, you are most of the times still able to bargain down that price another 60-70%.

A real adventure are also the food markets, where you can buy fruits, vegetables, bread and meat. The special thing about the meat is, at least when it comes to chicken, that you don’t just buy a piece of ready chicken breast, but you choose the chicken that is still running around alive and then they kill it proudly pretty much in front of you, to show you how fresh the meat really is.. I personally didn’t feel that much like eating chicken anymore afterwards.. but... “when in Rome do it as the Romans do”, right?!

So if you ever visit Morocco don’t miss out on a little shopping tour through the beautiful and colourful market shops of Marrakesh. Especially during the evening, when all the little lamps light up the shops, it is a great way to enjoy the city. And who doesn’t want to bring back a nice colourful handmade bowl, a Moroccan teapot or a bag out of camel leather as a souvenir to always remind you of wonderful times in Marrakesh?!