Woo-hoo, one of my favorite parts of a journey–a visit to the marketplace!

I like being overwhelmed with sights and sounds and smells and textures–and the souks of Marrakech do not disappoint. They are huge, an unmapped maze of covered streets bordered by shops with overflowing and attractively arranged goods of every description. And shopkeepers eager to invite the wide-eyed tourist inside, where she can see and touch and try on whatever they can offer. And buy it, of course.

Dan walks purposefully past all the shops in order to avoid having to go in. I, however, like to linger and enjoy the richness on display. (No, I did not buy the beads.)

And even though it’s still early enough in the morning that some of the shops haven’t yet opened, there is indeed much richness on display, from fine jewelry and antiquities…

…to affordable jewelry and ornaments…

…to lamps and other objects of skilled metalwork…

…to (of course) food…

…to, well, lots of other stuff.

And it’s not just the textures and patterns of the various shops that overwhelm the senses. Even the very streets are sublime.

On a corner just outside the souks, the shops seemed more geared toward local clientele, perhaps neighborhood folk.