Today we would spend most of the day touring the Fes Medina, the old city. First though, we jumped in our mini bus for a short drive to the 200 acre Royal Palace. Sadly no one is allowed inside the walled palace, but there is much to be admired about the beautiful entrance ways scattered around the walls. One of the street that runs alongside one of the walls reminds me a lot of Bourbon St in New Orleans - just a fair bit dirtier and a lot of hanging electrical and phone cables. Nobody throwing beads or flashing their boobs either!!!
After a brief stop at a lookout at the top of one of the hills surrounding the city, we headed to the Medina. Our guide tells us that Fes is the oldest city in Morocco and that the Medina is made up of 9,000 alleys and 40,000 deadends!!! It's clearly easy to get lost, so we stick closely together.
There are no cars in the Medina - to get from one place to another or shift goods around, you walk or ride a donkey or horse or use a small motorised cart (sort of like a bobcat with a large square bucket (scoop) on the front. The carts are for goods only, not people. They hinge in the middle so they can manoeuvre more easily around the narrow alleyways.
The Medina is very cool and upon entering, it becomes immediately obvious how easily it would be to get lost inside. People who live in the Medina also work in there, it would be very unusual if anyone worked outside. Where you live is either next to or very near your workplace. The shops that litter the medina range in size from tiny (there are more of these than any other size), through to very large.
The alleyways are in general organised around different foods or goods. In one alleyway you'll find loads of fresh produce, meats, veges, sweets, each in their own area and the next will be electrical goods, then fabric and so on....
In amongst the alleyways there is a beautiful school and university, based on the teaching of the Quran. Whilst we can't go in fully, we can peer through the entranceways to admire the stunning mosaic creations.
After walking around for an hour or so, we get taken to a large Tannery. For any followers of the Amazing Race TV show, this is the one that featured a few years ago. As we enter the tannery, we're each given a stem of mint and are told this is Moroccan gas mask to protect from the smell. We walked through the shop down to the balcony overlooking the tannery. As we neared the balcony I understood why they give us the mint. It stinks!! Although not as bad as I thought it would and it doesn't take long to get used to it. No need for the mint!
It's incredible to think that people work here day in, day out. I can't imagine that it would be possible to get the smell out of your skin!! When you look at the workers who are resting around the tannery, you can easily see how the work has permanently marked their skin.
The leather is treated in large circular clay baths, probably around 1.5 metres in diameter. With the exception of the yellow leather, all the hides start off being treated in the white baths. The white baths are to clean the hides and prepare them for the dying process. Standing above the baths, the workers prod and poke the hides, swirling them around to ensure they are properly treated. They don't enter the baths as they use ammonia in the cleaning process.
Once treated in the white baths, they move to the main area for dying. They produce all sorts of colours with each bath being used exclusively for one colour only. As there are no chemicals, the workers jump into the baths and use their hands and feet to complete the dying process.
The whole process can take weeks to complete and each worker is paid by the number of hides they treat.
The exception to the process is the yellow dyed hides. These are treated completely separately and follow a different process. The yellow leather lies all around the side of the tannery baking in the hot sun.
The visit to the Tannery also includes listening to the owner talk about his leather goods on offer in his shop. Then of course there's an opportunity to buy one of the hundreds of goods available, which a few of our group do - jackets, shoes, belts, wallets, bags.....
We head back into the Medina for more exploring and visit another couple of businesses - silverware and handmade material (scarf, tablecloths, traditional clothes)
Overall we spent around 4-5 hours in the Medina. I would have liked more time walking and less in the shops trying to be sold stuff I don't want. But nonetheless, it's been fun and definitely worth the visit.
After the Medina we went back to the hotel for some free time. There's no plan for dinner so 10 of us decide to go to one of the flash hotels in Fes that overlooks the city, Les Meridnes. This turned out to be an excellent decision for several reasons. It was just nice to chill in a different environment, without going to an "approved" restaurant (which have been pretty average so far). The view was stunning. We sat on a balcony with a wide view across an older part of the city, with a few minarets protruding out of the mass of houses and businesses.
Five times a day, the Muadzin (pronounced Moo-ad-zin) sings out the call to prayer (the Adzan) from each Mosque. We're lucky enough to hear it twice as we sit in the balcony sipping our beers and gin & tonics. The sound is incredible. It's like listening to it in stereo. We think there are three Muadzin calling at the same time and the song travels left and right, across the city - remarkable and quite beautiful.
After eating pizza and a few drinks, it's time to head back to our hotel for the night. Hotel Olympic is not quite the same as Les Meridnes, but it is still very comfortable and we have our bags - Wahoooo!
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