We continued our walk in Fes to the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter. Below, our guide, Mohammed, describes an intricate doorway.
Our next stop was the Royal Palace, which has an ornately designed entrance.
By now, we were hungry and took lunch at a local restaurant. The weather was beautiful, so we dined on a second floor open-air balcony. This afforded an interesting view of some adjacent roof tops.
During our meal we were ‘serenaded’ by the loud sounds of hammering emanating from various shops in the marketplace below. As a hand drummer [djembe], it was fascinating that I was able to discern three distinctly different sounds that seemed to be organized into a rhythmic repeating pattern. Following lunch, I hurried down to see who/what was creating those sounds. Here are two of the ‘players’.
Our next adventure was a visit to a tannery. Fortunately, the weather was not hot, so the smell was not as obnoxious as it is in high summer. Still, we were all issued a sprig of mint, which we kept in front of our noses as we looked down at the dyeing pits. A key ingredient in the early processing [to soften and remove the fur] of pelts is, of all things, pigeon poop. In fact, the tannery has workers travel countrywide collecting it by the ton.
From our vantage point above the pits, we could see another tour group across from us. But, what interested me was the huge array of TV dishes mounted on the roofs.
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