That’s what Mrs TimOnTheTrain told me, and I said she was wrong. She wasn’t she was right (again dammit!). They come from Turkey. Just thought I’d get that out of the way and on the record to start with.
Today we visited the Old Medina at Fez. It has been there, pretty much unchanged, since the ninth century. Just think about that for a moment. On the way we stopped at the Royal Palace where our local guide Mr Aziz (wearing his dishdash for the occasion) talked us through some of the things we may see, hear and smell during our visit.
There are over 2000 streets and alleyways in the Medina. No matter how small they are named in Arabic, Berber and French… and in we wentWe started in the food quarter where this lady was making a sort of filo pastry. The big black iron thing is very hot and the pastry sheet is placed on it to cookThis slightly strange looking plant seed is used… (Any guesses?)… As a toothbrushThis is the area where clothes and materials are died using only natural colourants, no chemicals.The Medina is cat heaven. They are everywhereThe streets are too Winding and narrow for motor vehicles, so donkeys and mules are the transport of the dayThis is an old Madrassar (school). The alcove is where the Imam will stand, facing Mecca. The alcove amplifies his voice. After all that excitement the only thing to do was to sit down to a traditional Moroccan lunch. There was an awful lot of it, and with some of it we weren’t quite certain exactly what we were eating, but amazingly it was all delicious. We finished the meal with Moroccan mint teaAfter lunch we visited the oldest and largest tannery in the Arab world. It has been there, on site and unchanged, since the 14th century. They seem quite proud of the fact that unlike other, lesser tanneries that use urine or dog poop to cure the hides, they use pigeon poop (The upmarket alternative). Since the place actually smelled like it had a passing relationship with a pigeons bum we were all given a bunch of mint to sniff and improve the aromaWe returned to the hotel and I relaxed with a pot of mint tea, which I have become addicted to
TimOnTheTrain 