The pure definition of a maze… GPS is useless, as you rarely (if ever) have a line of sight to the sky (for the satellite signals) and there is no digital map on which to apply the coordinates you might be lucky enough to receive.

We hired a guide, thankfully…. thus we were not beset by the urchins who offer to ‘help’ you get around. Our guide grew up in the Medina, and he knew it like the back of his hand. There were many women shopping, men shopping, children playing in the alleys & streets, so, yes, this is home to many people.

As to the souks themselves, as far as we could tell, everything in the world that can be sold eventually ends up here to be re-sold. Plus the various food stalls selling meats (unrefrigerated), fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, breads, etc. You name it, you can find it being sold. The problem is finding your way back out with your treasures.

Deliveries are made by donkeys, or wheelbarrow carts. There are many people sitting on stoops, just sitting, with the occasional begging. Alleys twist & turn, main thoroughfares about 2 meters wide (with goods being sold spilling out into the alley), the smells (good and not so good), the dark, shadowed corners, shafts of sunlight that occasionally make their way to the pavement (such as it is), the barrage of haggling merchants and buyers.  It is a labyrinth and beyond overwhelming.

The below are offered without commentary, as I have no way of describing what I actually was looking at.