Market shopping in Africa
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Centre for National Culture
A warren of stalls selling arts and crafts and known simply as the Arts Centre, this is the place to shop in Accra and the most visited site in the country. The level of aggressive hassling may make you want to keep your cedis in your pocket but if you have the patience and wherewithal, you can come away with good-quality handicrafts from all over Ghana.
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Spice Souq
For herbal Viagra, Berber lipstick, cures for baldness and exotic spices, the spice souq is the place to go. The jovial traders will try and draw you in with their more eccentric wares but the best buys are the aromatic spice blends for tajine, fish and chicken. You can also buy argan oil products here as well as the traditional amlou (about Dh40 per bottle). Nearby is the fish souq, an interesting place to wander even if you're not buying, and across Ave de l'Istiqlal, is the jewellery souq, a small area of jewellery shops with everything from heavy Berber beads to gaudy gold.
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Khan al-Khalili
Jaundiced travellers often dismiss the Khan al-Khalili as a tourist trap; there's no ignoring the fact that it's a favoured stop of tour buses and has all the associated annoyances (touts and tat) that come with them. But it's worth remembering that Cairenes have plied their trades here since the founding of the Khan in the 14th century - the buying and selling didn't begin with the arrival of the first tour group.
Today the market still plays an important role in the day-to-day commercial life of thousands of locals.
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Covered Market
This is the place in Meknès to get fresh produce, and is virtually a tourist attraction in itself, with its beautifully arranged pyramids of sugary sweet delicacies, dates and nuts, olives and preserved lemons in glistening piles. There’s also good-quality fruit and veg here, as well as meat – the faint-hearted may choose to avoid the automated chicken-plucking machines at the rear of the hall.
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Owino Market
The busiest market in Kampala is Owino Market, which sprawls around the Nakivubo Stadium, near the taxi parks. Here you can find all sorts of goods for sale, but it is most popular with travellers for its wide range of second-hand clothes from Europe, Asia and the USA. Bargain hard, as they tend to raise the prices when mzungus (white people) are sniffing around.
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Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África
This market has a Central American look with its arched entrance, clock tower and flower sellers. It's not large by Spanish standards but is still tantalising, with its mountains of fresh fruit and vegetables and variety of fish. You can also buy bread, fabulous local cheese and meats.
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Flea Market
This Sunday car boot and secondhand clothing flea market, behind Greyville Racecourse and opposite Standard Bank, is a regular event for some Durbanites who buy and sell the secondhand items, which are sublime and ridiculous.
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Avondale Markets
Visit the Avondale markets on top of the old car park at Avondale Shopping Centre for carvings, beaded jewellery and other crafts.
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City Market
Has dozens of stalls open daily, selling woodcarvings, drums, spears, shields, soapstone, Maasai jewellery and clothing.
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Marché Sandaga
In the endless sprawl of street stalls here you can buy about anything, as long as no one steals your purse.
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Souqs
While the Souqs of Meknès aren't as extensive as those of Fès or Marrakesh, the lack of hassle makes them a great place to potter around looking for souvenirs.
The easiest route into the souqs is through the arch to the left of the Dar Jamaï Museum on the north side of Place el-Hedim. Plunge in and head northwards, and you will quickly find yourself amid souvenir stalls and carpet shops.
As you walk, notice the qissariat (covered markets) off to either side. A couple of these are devoted to textiles and carpets, which are noisily auctioned off on Sunday mornings. Okchen Market, in the last qissaria on the left before you reach the T-junction with Rue Najjarine,…
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Albert Market
In Banjul, the best place to go shopping is Albert Market. If you enter via the main entrance you'll pass stalls stacked with shimmering fabrics, hair extensions, shoes, household and electrical wares and just about everything else you can imagine. Keep going and you'll reach the myriad colours and flavours of the fruit and vegetable market. Beyond here is the area usually called the Craft Market, with stalls selling tourist-tempting souvenirs.
Give yourself a good couple of hours to wander around - long enough to take in all the sights, smells and sounds, and get your haggling skills up to scratch. There are several drinks stalls and chop shops in the market to pacify…
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Mercado de Xipamanine
Not exactly a tourist attraction, but a Maputo institution nonetheless, is the enormous and chaotic Mercado de Xipamanine. The market, which sprawls over the length of several football fields beyond the termination of Av Eduardo Mondlane, is the place to go to buy everything from used appliance parts to mattresses and sofas. More interesting is the enormous selection of traditional medicines and remedies, including an array of animal pelts, bird claws and more.
Xipamanine is also notorious as the hub of the local underworld, with an impressive assortment of stolen items for resale.
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Souq al-Gomaa
In the Southern Cemetery south of the Citadel, this sprawling weekly market is all the craziness of a medieval bazaar in a modern setting: under a highway flyover, expect new bicycles, live donkeys, toilets and broken telephones. Savvy pickers can find some great antiques and vintage duds. Go before 10am, when the crush of people can get overwhelming. You’ll need a taxi to get there (about E£12 from Downtown); tell the driver ‘Khalifa’, the name of the neighbourhood.
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Souq Ibrahimiyya
Souq Ibrahimiyya is a favourite little market in town for peeking into daily Egyptian life as it goes about its business. It’s packed to the brim with bright fruits and vegetables, piles of still-wet seafood, and stalls selling all kinds of clucking poultry and meats, both before and after they’ve seen the butcher’s block. It’s best in the morning, when the vendors are at their most vocal and enthusiastic.
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Grand Marché
If you're patient and peruse the nether regions of the Grand Marché you'll find a fine selection of goods, including Tuareg and Hausa leatherwork, silver jewellery, batiks and tie-dyed cloth. Look out for les couvertures Djerma (known locally as a kountas) - large, bright strips of cotton sewn together into a large blanket, which are truly spectacular and unique to Niger. As always, friendly negotiations are in order!
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Market
The Market is excellent for fresh fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, and particularly throngs on Monday and Thursday, when people come from outside Chefchaouen to sell produce.
Several local specialities are worth checking out, particularly the fragrant mountain honey and soft ewe's cheese - both served up at breakfast. Add fresh dial makla (a type of bread) and you have all the ingredients for a heavenly picnic.
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Kissariat
The kissariat (covered markets) at the bottom of Talaa Kebira have dozens of tiny shops selling babouches in every colour, fabric and design. Here, you can get yourself a top-quality, hand-stitched pair of leather babouches for around DH120. Only men wear yellow or white. Venture further into the kissariat to discover a wealth of bright yellow-gold wedding jewellery and superb fabrics.
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Bedouin Market
Much livelier is the Bedouin market, held at the southern edge of town near the main market – note that it’s signposted in Arabic and in English as the Souq al-Hamis. It’s fascinating to watch as Bedouin come in from the desert in pick-up trucks or occasionally on camels, with the veiled women trading silver, beadwork and embroidered dresses, while the men sell camel saddles.
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Medina craft shops and showrooms
Tetouan's medina has the usual mix of craft shops and showrooms for the souvenir hunter. Wood and leatherwork are the local specialities. Unique to the Rif are the eye-catching mendeels (hand-woven, brightly coloured striped cloths), worn by farmers. The best place to buy them is from the women on the tiny square to the northeast of Bab er-Rouah. The tannery is the best place to browse for leatherwork.
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Medebar Market
Duck up northeast to soak up the atmosphere of the Medebar Market. No doubt you'll be awestruck the minute you enter this mind-boggling place. It is like an open-air workshop where absolutely everything is recycled: old tyres are made into sandals, corrugated iron is flattened and made into metal buckets, and olive tins from Italy are made into coffeepots and tiny scoopers.
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Sharia al-Muski
Congested and fabulous, the market street known as Sharia al-Muski begins in the khan (where it's formally called Sharia Gawhar al-Qaid) and runs parallel to Sharia al-Azhar to Midan Ataba. It's the 'real life' counterpoint to Khan al-Khalili's touristy maze, lined with carts selling cheap shoes, plastic toys, bucket-sized bras and some truly shocking lingerie.
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Main Market
Mombasa's dilapidated 'covered' market building, formerly the Mackinnon Market, is packed with stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables. Roaming produce carts also congregate in the streets around it, and dozens of miraa (leafy twigs and shoots chewed as a stimulant) sellers join the fray when the regular deliveries come in.
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Marché Africaine
On the far side of the oued is the gargantuan Marché Africaine, a daily market selling all manner of produce, from spices and traditional clothing to huge metal cooking pots, velour carpets and dodgy cologne (Tuareg pour Homme anyone?). To see the market at its liveliest, it's best to come in the morning.
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Central Market
This market dates from the 19th century and is a hugely colourful place to wander and stock up on food, with a mouth-watering selection of cheeses, fresh bread, harissa (spicy chilli paste), olives and pickles (surrounding shops sell tempting piles of the same) as well as fruit and veg and a wide range of basketware.
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