086/BALADEDECO
LONG LIVE THE FLEA MARKET!
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The old camel market Bab El Khemis is now the friendliest flea market in Marrakech. Let us guide you amongst the rainbow-coloured bric-a-brac and the great deals to be found… Thursday is the day when the biggest deliveries are made and therefore the ideal time to visit Bab El Khemis. A few minutes away from the Jardin Majorelle, this large flea market owes its name to the Medina gate also used to make your way there and, at the risk of stating obvious, can be translated as “the Thursday gate”. This ex-bustling camel market, relegated to outside the Medina walls due to the related noise pollution, is now a huge market, as fun to travel up and down as it is profitable for initiated and amateurs alike. Divided into four main areas – second-hand goods sellers, potters, carpenters and welders - do not hesitate to venture there to track down that great deal. At the entrance to the souk, mobile phone, jeans and football sellers stand guard in front of the area where you will find old doors. Shutters, gates… in the huge selection on offer, we spotted wonderful examples of old studded wooden doors in all shapes and sizes, fragments of paint still apparent despite the ravages of time. In this part of the market, Adil catches you unawares with his very seventies-style wares: “I have been here for a year, and my father, an antique dealer, taught me to hunt for antiques everywhere, from Rabat to Casablanca…“ It took him a number of months to gather this amazing collection of 70s telephones shaped like footballs, corn-on-the-cob or scallops (1,000 to 1,500 dirham). Plastic or metal lights, straight out of an old Alain Delon film, hang from the ceiling. Tulip chairs and orange plastic mirrors add the finishing touch to this ragbag world, between the enamelled iron plaques and 1930s wall lights. Pulled by drowsy donkeys, the carts dodge the scooters. Visitors pass alongside rows and rows of bathtubs, wash hand basins, and mattresses before discovering the potters. At Ibn Abdallah’s stand, the very trendy radiant green Tamgrout (near Ouarzazate) jars draws the customers… and stand out amongst the Fès pottery patterns, sold at prices worth coming for. Guided by the reassuring smell of wood shavings, the height of the bamboo in the carpenter’s area, waiting to be turned into mats and fences under your very eyes, is bound to surprise you. Amongst adorable old school chairs with their elegant patina and old irons, one just happens to discover on the corner of an alleyway, a lot of handsome industrial desks. Further on, an imposing bank safe is devastatingly empty! Today, it shelters a stock of old records, featuring Julio Iglesias to Demis Roussos… The rhythm of the hammers announces the copperware market, with its metal, copper and iron pieces. A few meters more and you will find Mohamed and his brother Abdessamad selling 1960s clocks (300 dirham a piece) sleeping on a shelf at the back of their stall, before a decorator comes along to wake them. A complete welcoming suite in white Plexiglas and fake blue fur looks like a Scopitone jukebox (8,000 dirham). Then come an appealing set of coffee table, sofa, chairs... Not far from a huge birdcage, a beautiful film poster – 4 metres by 3 – in its original frame remind us that Jean Cocteau wrote the dialog in the film “Les Noces de Sable”, produced by Studio Maghreb. Today, DVDs inundate the stalls. Nostalgia at Bab El Khamis nevertheless invites you to search for some good deals! Bab el Khemis is open every day except Friday.