Day 14 Fes

Breakfast on the roof terrace in brilliant sunshine. We could see Borj Nord, a ruin on one of the hills above us. We intended to go there sometime to check it out. After the mysterious exhaustion of the previous day we were determined to take it much easier. Our main goal was the big Chouara tannery, one of the main reasons for going to Fes from my perspective, to see the large dyeing vats with their high impact colours.

Shortly after leaving the Dar we spotted some colourful cloth hanging on the side of the lane, and stopped to have a look and bought several of them. The problem then was what to do with them, not at home, but on the trip – our bags were full to start with and we already had the carpets. More on this later. We carried the booty back to the house and set off anew for the tannery, which we found fairly easily, behind a big mosque.

You enter the viewing galleries from the leather shops below, and are presented with a sprig of mint to counteract the smell. I was disappointed by the experience because there was no palette of colours as seen on photographs. Also, it’s a fairly messy, unpleasant place. The funny thing was that after taking many photos, Joan pointed out the signs forbidding photography. What a laugh. The men are knee deep in the vats churning the hides around, in cow urine according to Joan. Apparently, this method has not changed for centuries. They rinse themselves frequently at fountains provided for that purpose.

We did buy a little leather bag for Kitana. Earlier we had mint teas on a little square with lots of metal beating craftsmen – they use stamps to belt patterns into plates, pitchers, urns, lampshades, etc. Quite noisy. This square was also a donkey/mule crossroads – we observed at least a dozen of them. Poor little animals, having to thread their way through the human throng in these tight lanes. The mule drivers seem to be more aggressive and although they certainly go a lot faster than the donkeys, you never see any collisions. It really is another world altogether. Today we are feeling more comfortable here and certainly got around a good deal better.

After the tannery we were invited to look into a restaurant, which was much like the posh place of the day before but not quite as exquisitely ornate. It was pricey but we wanted to relax so it was an easy choice. Pity the food wasn’t very good – very little in my main dish. To compensate, the dessert of cinammoned sliced orange was good.The waiter then recommended that we also see (for free of coure) the similarly beautiful house next door. He summoned a manto guide us there. I had an inkling of what was coming.

It was in fact a carpet gallery in another beautiful riad. There some superb colourful large carpets hanging from the balcony. The man then guided us up the stairs to the gallery to see some young women knotting the carpet and Joan was seated next to them to be shown how to do it. We also got a closer look at the hanging carpets and the upper floor. The man then shepherded us down to a side room to avoid the throng of a large tour group that had just arrived. There he showed us a number of carpets of silk and silk/wool – 6’ x 9’. Although we liked them, and the price was bearable, they didn’t grab us enough so we made our apologies and escaped scott-free.

Following this we made our way back to the Dar via the alternate route.

Once back home we addressed the issue of what to do with our acquisitions. Lugging them around in Spain, where their weight on internal flights could put us over the limit was not an attractive prospect, so we discussed sending the stuff back. Fedex and DHL were the options touted by shopkeepers, but we don’t need it to go back in such a hurry. The LP advises somewhat obviously that sending by Post, surface rather than air, would be a lot cheaper option. We have our mail on hold, so this should work out okay.

Having hit on this choice we determined to go to the main post office in the Ville Nouvelle and send it on its way. We took a petit taxi (Fiat Uno, damn small). I asked the driver if the PO was open and he seemed to say yes. In any case he took us there but then on arrival told us it was closed. Nice one, but it is Saturday.

Note to waste the fare, we asked to go to the train station which turned out to be just around the corner. The fare was negligible, maybe $1.40. At the train station we purchased our tickets for our onward journey two days hence, thus relieving Joan of another worry (the LP had advised getting tickets early, but our housekeeper said at time of travel is okay and Joan holds to the LP). It was a very nice new train station, all in white. We walked around a bit in the new part of town, with its wide streets, some of which were lined with gum trees.

We were looking for a café to have some coffees. We saw many cafes, but were put off by the fact that almost all of them had a strictly male clientele. We had noticed this in Marrakech and Meknes too, but here in the non-tourist area it was much more pronounced. We eventually found one that also had a few women so got our heart starters there.

We had intended to go on to Borj Nord mentioned earlier, but by now it was overcast and dull, so we just took another taxi back to the medina and home.

Even though we didn’t do much today, we had an enjoyable time wandering in the souks, This is the first day that Joan has felt comfortable navigating the lanes in the souks and dodging the mules and donkeys. This is a big deal. We have both now reached the stage here in Morocco where we are finally at ease with the totally different way of life in the medinas.

On the way back up (while it’s a considerable ascent, it’s gentle but steady – very healthy) to dinner at the blue gate, we encountered the law, standing in the middle of the street, remonstrating with friends of the young man in custody, who we could observe was handcuffed. At the same time, the cop grabbed at a young lad zooming down the street and nearly succeeded in pulling him off his bicycle. The make use of the relative absence of people to have some fun.

We enjoyed our dinner, all the while watching an endless stream of people, mostly locals but also other tourists, passing by. All kinds of people, a fascinating and eclectic mix.