Fes, Morocco

Tannery in Fes

THURSDAY 29 MAY 2008

What a fantastic day! It started with a wonderful breakfast of various styles of pancakes, hard boiled eggs, fresh bread, croissants, orange juice and coffee. We hired an excellent guide, Youbi Houssine, to show us around the medina, which is the largest in Morocco and is celebrating it 12th century this year.

The narrow streets sold an amazing variety of goods. Chickens are kept live in the chicken stalls so they can be freshly killed to ensure fresh meat. We passed a house where there is a 14th century water clock.

There are several Fondouks in Fes, which used to provide food and shelter to traders. In most of them now the upstairs rooms are used for craftsmen and workshops, and stalls are set up on the ground floor to sell goods. Some of them were like being back in the medieval ages. Fondouk-el-Najjarine has been completely restored and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

There are mosques on nearly every street, but the Karaouiyine Mosque, established in 859, is one of the oldest in the western Muslim world and is the site of the first University in Morocco. The Mosques are not open to non Muslims, but it was possible to look through the doors and even take pictures of the fabulous architecture. Medersas were used to house University students and we visited the 14th century Bou Inania Medersa, which has been renovated. There is a very large renovation and restoration project going on in Fes since it was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.

We passed several primary schools (state funded) and one pre-primary school (privately funded) where we saw children learning to count in French. We also saw several bakeries. People make their bread at home and bring them to the community bakehouse to be cooked. The hammams (public bath houses) are heated by burning wood chippings from the carpenters.

The tanneries were like something from the middle ages, where the skins are soaked and rinsed to get rid of any blood and left over fur. We were given mint to hold under our noses because of the smell. The skins are then died before being made into belts, handbags etc. We also visited a carpet shop and although we told the shopkeeper we had no intention of buying any carpets as we lived on a boat, they were so beautiful and he was so persuasive we bought two! We visited a workshop where cloth is made for clothes, scarves and bed coverings and another workshop of brass workers and copper smiths. It was very interesting to see objects being made from the raw material.

We had an excellent lunch in an old palace and then went outside the city walls to the pottery and mosaic workshop where we could see men throwing pots and painting tajines.

We went back to the Rhiad and had another excellent meal on the patio.