Where'd you like to go?
{"cookieList":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin","__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics","__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"],"cookiesGroupFormatted":{"functionality":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin"],"analytics":["__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics"],"marketing":["__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"]},"layer":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n\n
\n minube uses its proprietary and third-party cookies to improve user experience, collect statistics on the use of our site, and serve relevant advertising on the site. To continue browsing, you must accept the use of cookies based on your preferences.\n<\/div>\n
\n \n
\n Show details\n<\/div>\n \n\n
\n
\n
\n
Enter
My Profile
Edit your profile
Close session
Write an opinion
Publish

The Great Market

{"cookieList":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin","__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics","__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"],"cookiesGroupFormatted":{"functionality":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin"],"analytics":["__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics"],"marketing":["__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"]},"layer":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n\n
\n minube uses its proprietary and third-party cookies to improve user experience, collect statistics on the use of our site, and serve relevant advertising on the site. To continue browsing, you must accept the use of cookies based on your preferences.\n<\/div>\n
\n \n
\n Show details\n<\/div>\n \n\n
\n
\n
\n
+20

3 reviews of The Great Market

The Great Market

Djenné is on a Monday and therefor market day. From early morning the esplanade that extends in front of the Grand Mosque is a frenzy. Gradually ethnically diverse traders arrive from remote places, set up their stalls and exhibit with care and dedication the goods they expect to sell during the day. Peul, Bambabara , Songhai or Malinke hope to make good deals with the goods they have brought here by donkey, zebu or even on their own heads. The effort to come up with all kinds of Djenné and surplus goods to sell is really huge for these people and can only be justified if it achieves good results, either in money or goods needed for family subsistence.

The cocktail of goods to be found in this great outdoor market vary from chickens, goats, eggs, vegetables, fresh fish, dried fish, smoked fish, dried meat, salt, nuts, dates, peanuts, herbs, spices, perfumes, oils, cans, buckets, jewelry, fabrics and various gadgets, which are distributed throughout the hundreds of wonderfully chaotic stalls, scattered in the shadow of the mosque. Wandering among the motley stalls it is easy to be attracted by the beauty of the hand-made jewelry of gold, silver or bronze, to admire the vivid colors of the fabrics of the dresses or fall for the heady scents given off by old ceramic jars brimming with ointment. Children hang like small acrobats from the backs of their mothers, who manage to do business and raise children at the same time. So much to see, so much to smell, so much to enjoy! During mid-morning the sun bakes down but the frenetic activity of the esplanade does not stop, no time to rest or complain with a need to sell as much products as possible, otherwise the long journey undertaken by many merchants who crowd the concourse will have been in vain. But in the grand bazaar of the multicolored Djenné it is not only about selling and buying, it is also about talking, remembering marriages.It is a place where families reunite and get news of loved ones, a place to be fascinated by a copper-skinned Tuareg in lively conversation with a young man with a mahogany colored skin, probably from the Peul ethnic group. At sunset in Djenne, shadows loom over the vast expanse in which only a few stalls, belonging to laggards or those who harbor hopes of making one last sale, a final exchange, remain standing. The journey has been tough and a long journey back home awaits. In a few moments the place, that hustled and bustled only a few moments ago, will become a silent wasteland. As every Monday the women cleaned the esplanade thoroughly and return to normal life ... until next week ... until next Monday. We will not be in Djenne to enjoy it but we carry the memories in our mind's eyes and in our hearts ......
Read more
+4

+10
See original

+3
See original
Have you been here?
Add your opinion and photos and help other travelers discover
{"cookieList":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin","__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics","__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"],"cookiesGroupFormatted":{"functionality":["CookieConsent","MINUBEV2","disableAutoLogin"],"analytics":["__utma","__utmb","__utmc","__utmt","__utmz","_ga","_gat","_gid","permanentStatistics","temporalStatistics"],"marketing":["__gads","GoogleAdServingTest"]},"layer":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n\n
\n minube uses its proprietary and third-party cookies to improve user experience, collect statistics on the use of our site, and serve relevant advertising on the site. To continue browsing, you must accept the use of cookies based on your preferences.\n<\/div>\n
\n \n
\n Show details\n<\/div>\n \n\n
\n
\n
\n

Information about The Great Market