My advice to anyone visiting the famous tanneries would be to access them by walking around the outside walls of the Medina (Old Walled City) until you get to the gate Bab Debbagh, walk through the gates and you are right there. Otherwise what happens is that you start to wander through the old streets looking a bit confused, but trying to look confident, and obviously only going to one destination. Soon someone will smile and offer to point you in the right direction and before you know it you have an uninvited guide. Your only two choices then are either to abandon the trip or persist with the ‘guide’ who will then expect money, In my case if not enough is forthcoming then a great deal of shouting ensues. But the human drama is not over then because once you arrive at the tanneries another guide takes over and shows you round, which is unnecessary as it is simply one street with arches off it and it seems quite easy to talk through each arch on your own and take a picture. More demands for money and shouting of course follow. It is stressful and a little intimidating, however on the other hand you see all around you such filth and poverty that what are a few dirhams to you. Just remember to go armed with a pocketful.

The tanneries themselves are divided into Arab and Berber though they seem indistinguishable from an outsiders perspective. I had imagined colourful dips and arrays of drying leather, however it is mainly a yard of concrete lined holes in the ground full of water with pigeon shit or flour dissolved and skins floating inside. All around there are piles of skins, wet and blubbery like tripe. The smell isn’t as bad as people make out. My ‘guide’ offered me a bunch of mint to hold and said ‘berber gas mask’ which is no doubt some kind of racist joke.

Was it worth it? Definitely yes. It is not exactly about wool and glass but fascinating, and a humbling reminder of the dirt and poverty of real craft worker’s lives that lies behind the nice bags and slippers and ‘morrocanerie’ for sale in the souks and abroad.

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