Essaouira Shopping

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the lonely planet suggested that of course lovelly locally made thuya marquetry items make lovely souvenirs with the work reputedly the best in Morocco but that a better idea might be a painting by one of the local artists.

When roaming around one can certainly see that there is plenty available with several gallery shops around and many souvenir shops with paintings clearly available for sale.

Near the covered passageway up to the Skala de la Port we noticed a shop with some interesting looking pieces around the entrance and went in to check it out.

What to buy: We spent over half an hour in this guys shop ending up being enticed by this and that and then it takes time doing the haggling stuff.
We both found some pieces that we liked that we thought would not only be souvenirs depicting what was special to us about Essaouira but also that it was providing some sort of income input to the area and hopefully the artiste that we bought of.

Unfortunately up on the ramparts there were guys painting pictures for sale that we and i like better actually than a piece id bought in the gallery and these guys' were better priced as well.
so why not just buy all of it! almost did i think but i am happy with the pieces i got and provides a bit more of morocco to have at home in England, New Zealand or Australia.

i was able to haggle for two pieces of a woman artist i think copying a style that i saw in an actual art gallery but i really liked her two pieces that didnt have the evil eye depicted all over it, for 140 dirham. then a larger painting together with leather art piece also for 250 dirham. and then up at the north bastion we got some small but cute blue and white paintings for 50 dirham each and then another painter up near him i loved his very colourful paintings of women having tea - he wouldnt haggle or budge from his price of 100 dirham each. i eventually got money from the ATM and went back and bought them. All a bit more expensive than my moroccans thought i should have paid when showed them later but no regrets!

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Vast array of items in lovely thuya wood - good quality workmanship and a wide choice - all at fixed prices. Some prices were lower than seen elsewhere and very reasonable, especially when converting into sterling, but some prices such as the lamp i bought my moroccan friends thought were much more expensive than shouldve been.

What to buy: Beautiful jewellery boxes of all sizes and decorative styles - such as alternate wood inlays or mother-of-pearl or lovely streaked or speckled gnarl well polished.
Trays of varying sizes and shapes and styles, lamps, coasters, tables,
all sorts and all beautiful!! and with that lovely fragrant scent of thuya!

What to pay: The jewellery boxes in my selection were between 300 and 340 dirham. The table lamp was 375 dirham. lovely single pen boxes were only 3 dirham. a rather nice tray i bought was only 50 dirham. there is such an array of items with an array of prices!

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Their are many souvenirs shops in Essaouira but if you look at the woodwork up close you will notice many of the handicrafts are scratched. I found it very hard to find a box that isn't stratched and the place to go is the woodworking shops underneath the fort walls near Skala de la Ville not only that but they will explain to you how they made it and materials they use and you get a good bargain as well.

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What to buy: There's tons of stuff in Essaouira whatever takes your fancy.

Just bargain for everything and let them start then cut there offer in half and work from their.

What to pay: Ask other people to get an idea first before you buy something.

Unfortunately Essaouira becomes more and more a tourist trap referring to local handicraft. There are a lot of not so traditional local products on sale there.

What to buy: Look at my picture, please. I saw a number of lamps, in metal (which was very, very rusty) or in thin leather. Just a few examples of not so local craft but... if you like it, why not to buy one?

What to pay: Bargain, bargain, bargain. Good luck :-).

There are a lot of stalls on tourist trails/streets od Essaouira open since early morning till dusk. The exhibitions of wood works are quite impressive.

What to buy: Local wooden handicraft like drums, plates etc. The first prices seemed very attractive for me - lower than in other destinations in Morocco.

What to pay: Bargain, bargain, bargain. Good luck :-).

If you don't want over-pay (hmm... what does it mean?) you must bargain. The first price is always higher than the real last price, sometimes even twice higher. Natives are real artists of bargaining and great observers of their foreign customers. So, look at them and learn haha.


A few advices:

1. Never hurry up, be patient and always keep smiling :-), keep in mind that shopping in Morocco takes more time than eating in France :-)

2. Try to be the first consumer in the morning (especially on Monday); some locals believe that the first good deal makes them good luck for the rest of a day/week thus they are ready to lower price more that time.

3. Try not to use English language, use French or Spanish or better none LOL. One of the first question is: where are you from. The highest price - not only the first one - is given for English speaking, American tourists especially. Natives think they are rich and can pay much more. Well, in the past Russian worked well but it changed...

4. Never pay special attention to the item you really want to buy - the natives are perfect observers.

5. If you buy more items be twice more patient and ask a seller to lower price again and again.

6. Do not refuse if they want to give you a tea (usually mentha tea with a lot of sugar) or something else to drink, be patient.

7. Never say in words or in your face that the price seems attractive to you.

8. If you are satisfied with your shopping give the seller a small gift: a cigarette, pen, sticker (label) etc. They love it. Optionally you can take a picture with your seller and ask him for an address to send the picture. Warnings:
- the address will be mostly written in Arabic letters,
- be sure that your picture will be displayed in a street stall/shop.
Anyway, next time you will be a special costumer. They have a very good memory for faces of their customers.

HAVE A GOOD FUN AND HAPPY SHOPPING :-).

What to buy: Local craft - do enlarge my picture, please.

What to pay: Less than you can even imagine :-).

When the almond paste has been completely extracted, the remaining paste is a brownish paste the is still a good food given to goats. It is possible to visit Argan oil producing cooperatives but I had not the opportunity to do it.

The fourth step in mixing a long time the almond paste by hand, which will allow the extraction of the oil. On the left of the picture, the stone mill is better seen than on the previous picture, where it was used.