Casabarata Souk and Grand Souk

 Our Airbnb host recommended that we visit the Casabarata Souk rather than the Grand Souk, as it would be less touristy. I had mentioned that Chris had an interest in oriental rugs and the host thought it would be a good place to look. In my opinion it was mostly junk. But it certainly was less touristy and I think met the requirements for being "the unbeaten path."

While we were wandering through, it started to rain. We ducked into a pottery shop (one place that was NOT selling junk) and the vendor kindly let us sit out the rain storm there. It ended up raining all day, but we eventually extracted ourselves from his shop.

I've been impressed at how kind, friendly, and helpful people are here. When we were looking for a food shop the first night, I spoke in French with a woman who guided us to the shop. She did ask for some money for her troubles - and we were glad to oblige! Of course people are friendly because we're spending money in their country, but I lived in a place that was a major tourist attraction (The Bahamas), and I saw first-hand some of the resentment that can also accompany service to tourists - especially American tourists.

Yesterday, we decided to check out the Grand Souk (I said I was ready for something touristy). We ended up in Plaza 9 Avril (Plaza of April 9). I took note of the date since April 9 happens to be my birthday. We figured there must be some kind of history here, so we - wait for it - Googled it. On April 7, 1947, working class Moroccans in Casablanca were massacred by French colonial forces to stop Sultan Mohammed V from giving a speech in Tangiers. On April 9, after visiting with victims of the massacre and their families, the Sultan went on to Tangiers to give what has become known as "The Tangier Speech," in which he appealed for the independence of Morocco.

As we strolled through the Plaza, we were approached by a man who tried to persuade us to eat at his establishment. We weren't ready for food, but knew we would be soon. Once we went back and very deliberately sought him out, he made  sure we were well taken care of. It was fun watching him work the crowd, identifying tourists or wealthy locals to "persuade" to eat in his restaurant.