15 or so years ago I went Christmas shopping in Marrakesh with an old (as in long time) pal... we had a great time and I just totally fell in love with Morocco. I loved Marrakesh - the culture mix of french and middle east - sometimes overlapping but often very separate all in one fantastic city.
My friend decided to visit the coast for the day but I was so enamored with the sights and smells of Marrakesh I decided to stay and explore - I couldn't bear to miss a single moment of this amazing city.
I wandered quite happily around the souks - the colours the textures, sounds, smells all incredibly enticing, exciting and buzzing with energy. I was determined not to buy anything... at least not in haste ha ha.
The souks are divided into various sections determined by what they are selling so all the jewelry shops are grouped together or all the metal stuff.. all the leather stuff... they go on for miles and seem at first like a vast maze but believe me a couple of days wandering and it all becomes quite familiar. Some places have set prices but mostly you are expected to haggle, something I found difficult at first but soon got into the swing of offering ridiculously low prices and working up to a compromise. I would say that these sellers are seasoned salespeople used to dealing with tourists and while I was offering silly prices I never felt I was ripping anyone off because we mostly got to an agreed price (or not) and I am quite sure they just wouldn't sell it to you if they didn't want to... this is not street kids in India desperate for a sale.
I loved the rugs, more then loved them and soon was wandering about the rug section being very clear I was 'looking' not buying - I didn't take long to break that one down!!! I had decided on a budget and some how miraculously I stuck to it - but I started low... the first rug I fell in love with was far far too expensive so I declared my (lowest) budget and more rugs followed all smaller and less beautiful then the first - disappointing, but I knew my limitations... I upped my price slightly... more rugs but I still just loved the first one - the price came down but was still beyond my means - out came the mint tea and pleasant chat.. stories exchanged about life and children.. more rugs, the original got cheaper. I was beginning to cave.. my price reached my resolute limit.. and then we inspected the original rug to discover a wee hole about an inch round right in the middle..it became 'potentially' unsalable! The price plummeted!
I still don't know if this was part of the whole plan to sell me this rug - I have no idea if the seller always knew - if they saw me 'coming' and I don't care - I had such a good time with just the process of buying the rug and the icing was I staggered back to the hotel with 4 x 2.5 meter Berber style rug. (practically bigger then our budget hotel room). It has beautiful colours and and is a mix of woven and tufted. This incidentally is back in the days when airlines were more generous about luggage allowance no making money out of extra baggage - it just fit in my suitcase and I had to buy another bag for my clothes ( rather nice leather doctors style one)
Anyway back to the present.... 15 years on the rug is down in our sun room/ my studio - the hole is still there and I have a dissertation to procrastinate about. Two hours later and bit of enjoyable faffing and the hole is mended!! No more need to think about where we place the furniture and I am very pleased with the repair - a little bit of darning weaving and embroidery and its almost but not quite invisible...
still not got on with the dissertation - the house is spotless....
PS I never did Christmas shopping like this again as once home I couldn't bear to part with any of the beautiful things so had to do it all again!!!
My friend decided to visit the coast for the day but I was so enamored with the sights and smells of Marrakesh I decided to stay and explore - I couldn't bear to miss a single moment of this amazing city.
I wandered quite happily around the souks - the colours the textures, sounds, smells all incredibly enticing, exciting and buzzing with energy. I was determined not to buy anything... at least not in haste ha ha.
The souks are divided into various sections determined by what they are selling so all the jewelry shops are grouped together or all the metal stuff.. all the leather stuff... they go on for miles and seem at first like a vast maze but believe me a couple of days wandering and it all becomes quite familiar. Some places have set prices but mostly you are expected to haggle, something I found difficult at first but soon got into the swing of offering ridiculously low prices and working up to a compromise. I would say that these sellers are seasoned salespeople used to dealing with tourists and while I was offering silly prices I never felt I was ripping anyone off because we mostly got to an agreed price (or not) and I am quite sure they just wouldn't sell it to you if they didn't want to... this is not street kids in India desperate for a sale.
I loved the rugs, more then loved them and soon was wandering about the rug section being very clear I was 'looking' not buying - I didn't take long to break that one down!!! I had decided on a budget and some how miraculously I stuck to it - but I started low... the first rug I fell in love with was far far too expensive so I declared my (lowest) budget and more rugs followed all smaller and less beautiful then the first - disappointing, but I knew my limitations... I upped my price slightly... more rugs but I still just loved the first one - the price came down but was still beyond my means - out came the mint tea and pleasant chat.. stories exchanged about life and children.. more rugs, the original got cheaper. I was beginning to cave.. my price reached my resolute limit.. and then we inspected the original rug to discover a wee hole about an inch round right in the middle..it became 'potentially' unsalable! The price plummeted!
I still don't know if this was part of the whole plan to sell me this rug - I have no idea if the seller always knew - if they saw me 'coming' and I don't care - I had such a good time with just the process of buying the rug and the icing was I staggered back to the hotel with 4 x 2.5 meter Berber style rug. (practically bigger then our budget hotel room). It has beautiful colours and and is a mix of woven and tufted. This incidentally is back in the days when airlines were more generous about luggage allowance no making money out of extra baggage - it just fit in my suitcase and I had to buy another bag for my clothes ( rather nice leather doctors style one)
Anyway back to the present.... 15 years on the rug is down in our sun room/ my studio - the hole is still there and I have a dissertation to procrastinate about. Two hours later and bit of enjoyable faffing and the hole is mended!! No more need to think about where we place the furniture and I am very pleased with the repair - a little bit of darning weaving and embroidery and its almost but not quite invisible...
still not got on with the dissertation - the house is spotless....
PS I never did Christmas shopping like this again as once home I couldn't bear to part with any of the beautiful things so had to do it all again!!!
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