Fes

We had a full day with a local guide Rachid (I think that is how it is spelled). We wandered through the old Jewish quarter where Jews no longer live. When the French left in the 1950s, they moved in to their newer nicer neighborhood.

These small, cramped quarters are fully inhabited now by workers. I’m not sure how I would ever manage without a guide in this maze of alleyways, stairs and doors.

More mosques and exquisite plaster carvings, tile work and wood. It all runs together at this point, one more beautiful then the next.

Next we walked through the extensive market with, well, everything. Market fruits and vegetables, meat including camel, breads, nougat and spices. And then the myriad of crafts: fabrics, brass, leathers, ceramics, wood and any souvenirs you might like. I was delighted with the stuff but more the throngs of people buying and meeting friends, the old men sitting at stalls, and women collecting goods for dinner. Life.

The tannery was quite sad though. Skinny men were hip-deep in the vats for each step in the tanning process stamping the skins and pulling them out. A stinking, difficult and toxic job. The leathers was butter-soft and beautiful. I just couldn’t.

At the end of the day after a dip in the pool and a picnic dinner at our hotel bar, I was beat. Tomorrow is a bus day to to the desert.Read more