Nov 25 – Fes – Old Medina, Tile Factory and Tannery

We have more rain this morning although it is off and on and not real heavy.  That is an improvement.  Our first stop was the Royal Palace for pictures of the outside.

Then we walked through an old section of town near the Palace. 

Along the way we saw a lot of storks on roof tops and in nests in a communications tower.

From there we went up to The Tower.  It was originally an ammunition's repository.  But the main purpose was to see the views of the city.  Fes has a massive medina, one of the largest in the world.  Mohammed said that there are over 9,500 lanes and alleyways in the old and new medinas.  The views were spectacular.

From there we stopped at a tile factory to see how they make tiles and other ceramics.  

The tour was very interesting and of course it ended in the shop.  Because it was the end of the season they gave us a 10% discount.  A few of us bought a few items.

From there it was on to the old medina.  Once there Mohammed picked up a second guide/guard to help minimize hassles (didn’t work) and, more importantly, to help steer any of us who straggled, which was most of us at one time or another).  It was crowded and easy to get separated from the group.  The other man was a big help in that regard. 

The area was a maze of small, very crowded streets.

The number and variety of shops was countless.  There were clothes and shoes and toiletries and snacks...

and every type of produce you can imagine...

and shiny, blingy mirrors. 

There were shops where they were “baking” paper thin bread on big, black, bulbous cookers (for lack of a better word).

We saw a lot of butcher shops, many with the heads of the butchered animals, including goats and a camel head. 

This fish shop had an entire shark's head on display.

We also stopped in an embroidery shop where there were several women working on pieces. 

We also stopped by another mosque, but as usual we were not allowed inside.

Near the end of the tour we stopped at the world famous tanneries.  We were able to go to the top of the building where we had great views overlooking the rooftops of the medina, with all of the satellite dishes...

and great views of the tannery vats. 

The smell was pretty pungent due to the materials used in the tanning process.  One of the prominent materials is pigeon poop.  Gross.

Of course, the tour the ended in the shops where there seemed to be an infinite variety of leather items for sale.  Shoes, coats, satchels, purses, backpacks, wallets, and on and on.  Paul bought a satchel and Mary a backpack/purse.

We also spent a  it of time at Place Sffarine, where the copper smith's have their shops.

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Watch video of the Coppersmiths Place and listen
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We had a lot of street peddlers bugging us to buy their items.  Tara eventually succumbed to a young man who was selling little leather coin purses…bought one for each of us.  However, one man followed her for what seemed like forever, trying to sell her small clutch type purses.  She wasn’t really interested but if he would have gone low enough she might have bought.  Her bargaining is formidable and at one point he told her “Madam, you bargain like a Berber woman.”  Which she took as a complement.  She never did buy from him.

On plaza just outside of one of the entrances to the medina there were a number of vendors who had just set their wares out on the plaza.  Have a shoe.

Or a pot.

On the way back to our lovely hotel she announced that she had negotiated with the hotel for us to all have our evening meal free at the restaurant’s hotel.  Great news.  So we had dinner in.  Unfortunately it took them forever to get the food out.  Fortunately the food was all very good.