INTRODUCTION:
Spices, leather, ceramics, and more...
Morocco is a country of many scents. While you stroll through the many markets, your nose will tell you what each district specializes in — spices, perfumes, leather, woodworks, fish or vegetables. There are many things you should check out, and perhaps bring home. Mint tea is a favourite by many travellers. In order to make it, stay away from the complex recipes that some tourist guides might present you with. This is what you need: A box of gun powder tea (which you might find back home in your own country), a lot of mint leaves (you buy them fresh, and try them on the floor of your hotel room), tiny glasses and a typical tea pot. Boiling it back home is simple. Fill the tea pot with water and tea, let it boil for some minutes, add a lot of sugar and the mint. Let soak for 5 minutes, while you pour out a glass of mint tea every two minutes in order to check if it is ready. Morocco has many spices for sale, exhibited in colourful piles. Prices are good, and quality good. Just remember that what is sold as saffron is not really saffron. Women will have hours of great fun to spend, while exploring what Morocco has to offer of natural make-up, as well as mud shampoo, stones for pedicure etc. It takes some time to get used to how to handle the products, and it must be used with great caution, as it leaves strong colours and thick lines.
Olives of Morocco are among the best anywhere. But you often have to visit larger cities to get a good selection, and even good prices. This is from Meknes, which has one of the best vegetable markets in the country. The olive selection is excellent.
Other great products of Morocco include dates and nuts. Dates come in many qualities, at prices ranging from 15 dh to 150 dh a kilo. Marrakech is one of the best places to buy these snacks, and there are hundreds of date or nut stalls around the suuq.
Moroccan leather is quite famous, and many have returned from their holidays with a pouffe, a bag or clothes in leather. One place is unique in Morocco to see the tanning: Fez.
Imouzer des Ida Outanane is the centre of a region producing two famous products. Marihuana honey and argan oil. The first might just be a fantasy, but it says that the bees of the region feeds off hemp plants. Locals I talked to hadn't heard of this. The other product is also fascinating: goats eat the berries off the argan tree, and local women collect their droppings, in which the big seeds lie. These are first washed, then crushed, and squeezed. Oil is collected, and filtered, then sold. Just remember, not to buy it here, it is cheaper in nearby Agadir.
Roses can become more than statements of love and affection. In Kelaa des Mgouna roses are grown for the production of rose water. Valleys are filled with roses, and every May a sight like no other comes alive. This is also the time of the rose festival.
