Marrakech, Morocco, Day 2

The second day was both magical and exhausting at the same time. We started off the day with a lovely breakfast at the Riad, then went off on our guided tour of the souks, or market stalls. The guide came right to the Riad, and walked us down the street a bit until we hopped into a cab. It is amazing that cabs even fit down these bustling streets. The souks are central in the old city, but it would have been a long walk in the heat. 

The first section that the guide took us to was the iron work section. Here we walked past people creating items in their shops, and also some shops that sold the goods. The guide took us to a nice, big shop where we purchased a few items. Since they were quite cumbersome, they allowed us to leave the items there to pick up later in the day. The best part about having the guide with us is that he knew all of the people at the best shops, and where important things were like the bathroom and ATM. Otherwise it is just a crazy, huge maze that you would easily got lost and confused in (which we managed to do later on our own). 

It is also neat that the souks are generally organized by category, so in one section you will find mostly shoes, another section would be glassware, another might be rugs, and yet another would be jewelry. Some more sections include silver, basketry, wool, leather, and clothing. You can see almost all of these things being made in and around the souks. That is not to say that in some areas you will find other things mixed in. There is also a section closer to Jemaa-el-Fna square where the shops seem more mixed likely because this is where many tourists come through on their own. 

It's hard to describe the beauty and the feel of the souks so I will let some of my pictures speak for me. 

After we had toured quite a bit of the souks, and our feet and wallets couldn't handle much more, the guide took us to a swanky restaurant to eat lunch, and then we visited the "Maison de la Photographie". For all of my photography friends, I would recommend this. The images were beautiful, and there was of course a rooftop cafe and view to check out.

That was quite a day, so back we went to the Riad. Perhaps in the winter months we could have dealt with more, but the heat was overbearing. The Riad helped us book a taxi and made dinner reservations for us in the new part of the city. The restaurant was fine, and had peacocks wandering around.