Place des epices

Place des Épices, known also as Rahba Kedima, opens in the middle of the souk district as a relief: a square of rough paving and afternoon sun after the covered passages of the surrounding markets. It is smaller and less theatrical than Jemaa el-Fnaa, which sits a few minutes' walk to the south, and that reduction in scale is precisely what gives it its particular character. The vendors here deal in spices, dried herbs, folk remedies, and the medicinal ingredients that have been sold in this square for generations; their stalls occupy the perimeter and extend into the interior with an unhurried density. Café tables line the outer edges of the square, raised a step or two above the paving, providing a point of observation without distance. In the afternoon, the light comes at an angle that makes the coloured spice mounds glow in a way that has attracted photographers for as long as cameras have existed in the Medina. Carpet sellers occupy some of the surrounding buildings, and the terrace views over the square, offered by a couple of the cafés above, are among the more useful vantage points in the souk district. Place des Épices is best mid-morning, when the heat is manageable and the vendors are at their most attentive. The relationship between the square and the souks around it makes Place des Épices a useful navigational anchor: the network of covered passages that branch from its corners leads to the dyers' market, the leatherworkers' quarter, and the sections of the souk that are furthest from the tourist circuit.