Souk Ech-Chaouachine

The souk of Chechias is one of the largest in the medina, located northeast of the Grand Mosque. In the seventeenth century it was one of the largest industries in the country, where fifteen thousand craftsmen manufactured a million little red felt hats a year, originally used as a base for turbans, which were exported to the Islamic world. Today only older people usually wear them... and tourists, ve can not resist buying one as a souvenir. In the crowded medina shops, you can find these red woolen hats everywhere, and even see how the craftsman shapes them with a hammer while sitting on a traditional wooden bench.