Morocco

Morocco Saturday 30 September 2009

It took us three tries but we finally found our way to the famous tanneries in Fez. The Fez Medina has a reputation for causing visitors to get lost and we were no exception. We started out well. We followed the directions in our Lonely Planet and made our way along one of the main shopping roads down a hill and up the other side, keeping our of the way of workers leading donkeys laden with crates of soft drinks, bags of cement or boxes of produce. The roads are so narrow that motorized vehicles cannot negotiate the inner medina. Each time out we managed to reach the small plaza Place ai-Seffarine, but the route from the Place to the tanneries remained a mystery until our third foray.

It didn´t really matter as we discovered many other areas almost as interesting. One of the first areas we passed through was the butchers´ market. Small stalls sold beef, mutton, goat and camel meat cut to order. The camel butcher advertised his product with a camel head chewing a bunch of leaves hanging to the side of his stall. Cats were everywhere, poised expectantly below the counter of the butcher waiting for whatever scraps of meat the butcher wanted to throw to them.

There were the usual shops selling carpets and crafts, such as wooden inlaid articles, tin lamps, mirrors in silver frames, herbs, fruit and vegetables and of course leather goods, a specialty in Fez. There were arrays of purses, belts, shoes, poofs, jackets and many other items waiting for prospective buyers. The medina is a shopper´s heaven.

Leather shoes in market

Medersa Bou Inania theological college

We stopped to visit the recently restored Medersa Bou Inania, the finest theological college in Fez and Morocco. It was built from 1350-1357 and boasts some of the best examples of decorative tilework and carved concrete. A women´s room and separate men´s room both had acoustically correct cedar ceilings so that no students would miss the reading of the Koran. These rooms flank an anteroom centered with a pool in which Muslims wash before visiting the mosque on the side facing Mecca.

The Kairaouine Mosque and University was farther into the medina, near the Place ai-Seffarine. First built in 859 by Tunisian refugees and expanded in the 12th C the mosque is the largest in Arica and the adjacent building houses the oldest university in the world. Non-Muslims not allowed in but there are excellent views through open doors on several sides. The interior of the mosques was crowded with Muslims come to say their prayers and pay their respects at the mausaleum of Moulay Idriss II, the son of ruler buried near Volubilis.

If we had obtained the services of one of the many unofficial guides, men who offer to show you the way with a side visit to their shop, we would have reached the tannery area on our first attempt. We did succumb to the services of a few unofficial guides. We visited a small sheep skin processing room where the skins were scraped and washed. The visit was free but we had to pay the guard. Another time we followed a shop owner through the shoe and fabric district to his shop to climb stairs for a roof-top view of the Mosques. We gave him a small amount for his efforts as we didn´t succomb to his sales pitch to bring home a camel hair blanket or two. After climbing several sets of stairs in the median I can safely say that the stair builders have never heard of a standard width or height for the stair treads.

We finally found the right path to the tanneries by listening to the advice of a market worker lolling on his hand cart waiting for his next job and following a tour group. Speaking of tour groups, Wednesday must be the most popular day for groups to tour the Fez Medina. We had to jockey for position with several overly large groups following a leader holding aloft a flag or umbrella. Our advice would be to travel only with a very small group in Morocco. The streets are too narrow to accommodate large groups.

The tanneries follow the same practices developed in medieval times. Workers are organized in guilds and membership is handed down from generation to generation. It is extremely dirty work but the workers are proud of their skills and the end products are world class.

The best viewing spot for the tanneries is from a roof top terrace above one of the many shops surrounding the tanneries. We accepted the assurances of a shop owner that there would be no charge to view from his terrace and he was true to his word, although he did hope we would buy some of his wares. We were offered a sprig of mint to hold up to our nose to combat the powerful smell of vats full of a combination of pigeon poo and cow urine used to process the hides. We didn´t need the mint as we both had minor colds and couldn´t smell a thing.

We looked down on a large area pockmarked with tile lined concrete vats, just large enough for one worker. Men worked busily first washing and curing the hides of cows, goats, sheep and camels, then dying them in an array of colours. Only natural dyes are used in the process ; walnuts for brown, roses for pink, poppies for red, indigo for blue, mint for green and saffron for yellow. We watched fascinated, snapping pictures while men filled the vats with skins, stomped on them to incorporate the dyes then piled them on the narrow separations between the vats for the next step. Some men wore rubber boots and gloves for the most caustic operations but most worked in shots and either bare feet or sandals.

We watched one man on the roof top directly below us spread yellow dye with his hands on hides and spread them on straw to dry in the sun. I have to think there is a fair incidence of illnesses due to the chemicals the men are exposed to day after day. The tanneries are the most popular tourist draw in the medina and we would have been sorry to miss seeing them in action.

Fez is divided into three main sections, the Medina, the Mellah, just a short distance from the Medina, and the Ville Nouvelle, the modern commercial and suburban district, farther south. The Mellah, a district established as a refuge for Jews in the 14th C. About 200 families still live in Fez. Their homes remain but they have moved to better housing in the Ville Nouvelle.

We found our way to the Mellah and saw a few of the homes but never did manage to find the old synagogues. It didn´t matter. We were content with the huge ornate gates of the Royal Palace, which occupies a large area adjacent to the Mellah.