Morocco (2)

	We were very happy to have a guide to see Fez, and a jovial one at that. The medina is a labyrinth of tiny streets selling everything you may need, If you need a camel’s head, no problem. We were full on tourists soaking in as much of the flavours for all the senses. We shared the tour with Campbell and Linnéa who were having a break from their mechanical nightmare.

	Our first stop was in at a pottery factory. Everything was hand made, but the most amazing work was the tile mosaic craft. After the tiles were glazed and baked in olive stone pits they were then chipped into tiny ornate shapes with large sharp hammers.

Inside the medina we weaved our way around exotic foods and trinket stalls, passed herbs and spices, pots and pans. Each street or area had its own speciality, from brass and copper work, weaving and dying, woodwork and rugs, all with the one thing in common, not a machine or motor to be seen.

We jostled through the malay of buyers and sellers trying not to loose sight of the little green pointy hood of the guides Jalaba, around Mosque and Tombs. We were not however harassed or hassled (as Morocco is so famous for) and I feel this may have been due to the fact we had a good guide in toe.

We drank Moroccan Tea (Green tea, mountain herb, sugar and sugar, boiled up with some sugar and poured from a great height to give a good head) whilst being sold a carpet in some strange S.A.S-like resilience training (I must be ready for anything the enemy can throw at me, and I must not buy a carpet).

The highlight of any Fez tour must be the tanning pits for which Fez is so famous. The wide open space in the centre of the Medina can be viewed from the roof of one of the surrounding leather goods shops and approached along streets running with the spill over of the pits tanning your shoes.

	There is a not-too-pleasant smell enveloping it all, which we were continually reassured was completely natural, a description often used by my brother Tom to excuse his most pungent farts.



					For lunch we ate in a beautiful old Riad (house), the food and surroundings were 100% Moroccan, as was the mark-up on the price. I’m sure it’s a tourist trap into which the guide flushes the prey, but at least the food was outstanding. Steaming Tangines and pigeon pie, Fez style.

	On leaving Fez we stopped in to see Denis. Denis was a former Canadian Olympics horse vet who was now working at a charity-funded, free veterinary clinic, providing healthcare and advice for the thousands of donkeys and other animals of Fez. On average up to 80 donkeys could be seen in a morning surgery with wounds and foot problems often a little neglected by owners keen to keep on working. One of the more usual repairs was the removal of Pirelli shoes and replacement for metal ones, fashioned at the surgery. To discover more click here.