Fabulous FEZ.

There is just one modern coffee shop in the Medina of Fez and we have it 50 yards from our door, so when chatting with the owner I asked him if he knew someone that could speak English and could show us the real town, off the tourist trail. By chance he looked up and there was his friend Mohammed, and he would be very happy to do so for a princely sum of 150 dirhams or $20 for the day.

Our first stop was on top of a hill outside the town so we could see the entire Medina,  we took our car and travelled through what seemed to be a rubbish tip and then a bit of off-roading through a hillside of olive trees to get to our vantage point. The view indeed was wonderful and I just couldn’t get out of my mind the scene of “Life of Brian” where everybody lived on and over everybody else. Thankfully nobody opened up the window and stood there starkers! Then back through the new town which still looked every bit of a thousand years old and I smiled as Mohammed referred to it as the modern town 'ville nouveau'. Donkey’s carrying sheep in side pockets and people walking all over the road that was filthy didn’t seem that modern, but to them it was.

 We then went to a Tannery that was on the small river on the edge of the Medina and were really taken aback at how these guys worked so hard in really difficult conditions. They would have to coat oil all over their arms and legs because they would have to get into the “wells” where the skins were in the natural dyes. From there they would step up and down on them to work the colour into the leather. Then they would soak the skin in salt and chalk, and cover it with pigeon droppings so the acid would help make the skin softer.

A half-moon knife is used at this point to clean the skin of all hair and impurities. By scraping the skin it also helped the leather to be softened. This process is repeated for 10 days until the skin is soft and has lost its smell so only a faint leather odour is traceable at the end. As mentioned, these guys are working really hard, it was raining the day we visited but there was no rest. Other things that shocked us was the smell that was to say the least very unpleasant and also the fact that all the filthy water along with anything else not wanted, ended up in the local river with no filtration of any kind. Even before it reached the tannery, it had to go through the village so all the butchers off cuts and other businesses waste just floated on by.

Not so happy shoppers

Other stops along the way were a ceramic factory which had fountains we fell in love with, but not the price. Rug outlets, spice stores where we tried myrrh and frankincense and bought white musk and amber to put in our suit case, some argon oil to help the wrinkles dissappear and a thousand other little shops to gawk at as we passed.

A good day had by all.

With Anthony from Dar Al Waha
The best Riad in Fez

 www.fez-riads.com/dar_al_waha.htm

Paul