Oulja Crafts Complex

Oulja is the clay flat on the Sale side of the Bouregreg, and potters have worked there because the raw material is underfoot. In the 1980s a crafts complex was built to organise the trade: a laid-out quarter of workshops, kilns, showrooms and a basketry section, with the potteries producing tagines, bowls, tiles and garden pots, some in the plain functional ware and some in painted Sale styles, and the reed and palm weavers making baskets, mats and furniture next door. It is a working production zone rather than a display - you walk between workshops with clay drying in the yards, wheels turning, and kilns being loaded, and buy directly from the makers at prices well below the medina shops. Quality varies widely between workshops. It is ten minutes from Rabat and is the practical place to buy ceramics in the capital.

What you actually see

• Clay underfoot - potteries sited on the deposit they dig from.
• A built craft quarter - workshops, kilns and showrooms laid out together from the 1980s.
• Basketry alongside - reed and palm weavers making mats and furniture.
• Direct prices - buying from the maker rather than through medina shops.

When to go

October to April; weekday mornings when the workshops are working. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

Quality varies a great deal between workshops - look at several. It is an industrial zone and is dusty and unglamorous. Large pieces are hard to transport. Taxi drivers take commissions and steer.

Nearby

Sale medina is north; Rabat is across the river.