Wandering the streets of Essaouira feels incredibly relaxed after the intensity of the Marrakech souks. Even though there is so much more to choose from in Marrakech, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by so many choices and intimidated if bargaining is not your game. So I was incredibly fortunate to stumble upon this hidden treasure. Tilila is a small shop in Rue Attarine, Essaouira with a selection of artefacts, jewellery, pottery, silverware and more that have been sourced by Chama, the delightful owner. What's so unusual about this place is (a) that Charma is a woman running her own business in a male dominated market, (b) all the prices are marked and by comparison with similar quality are incredibly reasonable and (c) the service is outstanding. I was looking for a bespoke addition to my teaset and Charma left the store for 10 minutes to walk me through to the co-op where a group of women hand embroidered the very thing I was after and hadn't been able to source. The experience at Tilila was so good I managed to buy just about everything I needed from the one place.
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