souks : medina : marrakech : morocco

We made a bit of an unexpected purchase when we visited Morocco and to be honest, we were on pins when we returned home. The purchase was being sent to us, as it wasn’t going to be easy to bring it back ourselves, and after the euphoria had worn off – it was something we’d been searching for, for ages – we did worry that we might have been scammed or that said delivery would not arrive. When we made the purchase, we also negotiated/haggled/asked very nicely for a chocolate brown leather pouffe to be thrown in too.

This particularly appealed once the very obvious storage solution had been pointed out. In Morocco (and probably elsewhere, where people are just more practical), these pieces of storage furniture aren’t artificially stuffed. They’re filled with blankets, clothes, newspapers etc – a brilliant way to store summer clothes in the winter and vice versa. It’s also deceptively large – it’s now packed full of clothes and very heavy so it makes a very solid piece of seating. And, the bonus is, I could also start to get rid of some bulky cupboards which only served to house clothes which hardly ever saw the light of day. A proper exercise in de-cluttering. It’s beautifully well made and has that really aromatic smell of leather. We’ve now had it for over five years and it’s survived two house renovations, a long period in storage and being shifted from Didsbury to Istria. We still use it as storage – and it’s now coming up to that lovely time of year when we can think out about taking out the summer clothes and packing away the winter stuff. It also still doubles as a seat and now has a new home in our downstairs Snug.

We liked it so much that when our friend went to Morocco, we asked her to bring us another back – this one is much smaller and is one of the very traditional rounded, hand stitched leather pouffes that you see all over the Souks. They are really inexpensive and as they are purchased flat, are so easy to bring back. Ours is a gorgeous sunshine yellow, which just brightens the room up…

Although I currently can’t imagine being comfortable in a Souk – the whole point being that they are crammed with people and sellers, noisy, exciting, vibrant – everything we’re currently keeping ourselves away from, I’m sure one day, we’ll return. During they day, especially in Marrakech, they seem a lot calmer and easiest to get around. At night, they take on a completely different feel. They can be quite disorentating and it’s so easy to feel lost and bit overwhelmed. But, we’ve always found them to feel safe – I’m not sure if I’d be totally happy wandering around solo, in the same way that I probably woudn’t wandering around somewhere like Piazza Navona in Rome, on my own, at night, but with someone else, they don’t feel initimidating. And, with someone else, it means that there is always someone to rein me, purchase wise 😉 We’ve always been fairly limited in what we can bring back as we don’t tend to travel with hold luggage, but looking back, it would seem that airlines did exert a little bit more flexibility in terms of cabin luggage weight and size, as looking around our home, we have obviously managed to get a few Souk purchases home…

We were very taken by the Moroccan Rose Tea – both in taste and appearance and aroma – and so brought some back with us, especially when its properties were explained to us. Being caffeine free, it’s supposed to aid digestion and blood circulation, as well as nourishing the skin. I can’t say whether these claims did actually work, but it’s super pretty and smells gorgeous.

We also couldn’t resist a big Moroccan bowl – due to size restrictions, we couldn’t go for the full set, but on our next visit, I do hope that we can start to add to a collection and have the smaller plates and bowls to match this beauty. It currently hangs on the wall, but one day, I do see it as centre piece on outside table, full of a vibrant summer salad.

the souks of marrakech and essaouira

 

And yes, the purchase we mentioned initially, did arrive. Our beautiful handmade Berber rug…

Published on 9th April 2020