Morocco Guide
Marrakesh
The main souks
On the corner of Djemaa el Fna itself there is a small potters' souk, but the main market area begins a little further beyond this. Past the Souk Ableuh, dominated by stalls selling olives, an archway marks the beginning of Rue Souk Smarine. Busy and crowded, Rue Souk Smarine is an important thoroughfare, traditionally dominated by the sale of textiles and clothing.
Just before the fork at its end, Souk Smarine narrows and you can get a glimpse through the passageways to its right of the Rahba Kedima, a small ramshackle square with a few vegetable stalls set up in the middle of it and some apothecary stalls grouped round the near corner. Immediately to the right, as you go in, is Souk Larzal, a wool market feverishly active in the dawn hours. Alongside it is Souk Btana, which deals with whole sheepskins – the pelts laid out to dry and then displayed on the roof.
At the end of Rahba Kedima, a passageway to the left gives access to another, smaller square – a bustling, area known as La Criée Berbère, where slave auctions used to take place. These days, rugs and carpets are about the only things sold here.
Cutting back to Souk el Kebir, you emerge at the kissarias, the covered market at the heart of the souks. Off to their right is Souk des Bijoutiers, a modest jewellers' lane. At the northern end is a convoluted web of alleys that comprise the Souk Cherratin, essentially a leather workers' souk, though it's interspersed with smaller alleys and souks of carpenters, sieve-makers and even a few tourist shops.
Taking the earlier left fork along Souk el Attarin – the spice and perfume souk – brings you out on the other side of the kissarias and the long lane of the Souk des Babouches (slipper-makers). The main attraction in this area is the little Souk des Teinturiers – the dyers' souk. North of here sprawls the main section of carpenters' workshops, Souk Chouari – with their beautiful smell of cedar – and beyond them the Souk Haddadine of blacksmiths – whose sounds you'll hear long before arriving.