Morocco, part II: Marrakech's Souk de teinturiers

The souk de teinturiers or dyers' market is hard to find. I mean, that could be said for much of Marrakech (as someone who muddles up left and right even at home I found myself thanking the Google gods that I could occasionally access a map). Persevere in seeking it out and you'll be rewarded with two or three little streets where a very old craft still thrives among the stalls of neon pompom-ed straw bags and shoes that could have been made in China. 

The dyers used to occupy much more space here in the medina but as demand for handmade goods has dwindled, so have their numbers. Hidden down an alleyway, you'll find walls painted with handprints and running with water from dripping skeins of wool hanging overhead. 

You'll get a harder sell here than elsewhere in the market and the workers hauling steaming hanks of material in and out of dye pits will actively dissuade you from taking photos - which is, of course, fair enough! Wander about and breathe deep and you'll get a noseful of wet sheep that'll take you back to autumn days in your school blazer. Fill your eyes with the vivid sight of bowls of pigment powder all made from natural materials - poppy seed, something that looks like lapis, ochre. 

In my case, you'll also get chatting with one dyer who invites you in for a closer look at the process and thinks you very funny as you bend to snap a picture of his battered gold teapot and fuzzy tv screen filled with aerial snow. 

Suddenly you'll have made a human connection and he'll be more than happy for you to capture his portrait. 

He will wave you on your way after showing you the deep egg-yolk yellow cotton he's dip-dying today and you'll leave with a greater appreciation of the web of artisans that used to run this trade - from the farmers raising and shearing the sheep, to the spinners and dyers processing the wool, to the weavers and tailors and rug makers that made the beautiful shawls and rugs you can still find elsewhere in the souk.