Without the leather tanneries, Fes would be delightful, a joy to visit. With them, it is…remarkable. Stunning. Quite possibly like nothing you will see anywhere else in the world.

Fes is the center of leather-goods production in Morocco, a country world-famous for its fine leather. And the leather is tanned and dyed in the same location using the same methods they’ve used since the Middle Ages. And before.

The way this works for the typical tourist is very easy. All you do is, you walk down any street in the medina, heading vaguely downhill toward the river. A nice young man whom you’ve never met before will volunteer to take you to a shop where there’s a terrace that overlooks the leather dying operation. That’s exactly what you’re hoping for, and so you follow him. He leads you to–you guessed it–his uncle’s shop, where you are greeted by a smiling middle-aged man who hands you a bouquet of mint.

Trust me, you want the mint.

The nice middle-aged man, all smiles, leads you up a couple of flights of steep, narrow stairs and out onto a terrace that overlooks a sight like nothing you have ever seen before.

Oh, did I mention why you need that bouquet of mint? It’s because this work is as odiferous as it is messy. One of the main ingredients in the tanning process is cow urine. And the individual tanners and dyers immerse themselves in their work.

The next phase of the tour involves climbing another set of narrow stairs to the shop above, where anything you ever wanted made of leather will be offered to you. And if they don’t have it here on the premises they can get it for you by tomorrow. And, the smiling middle-aged man assures you, the price is very reasonable.

It isn’t, of course.

We didn’t know yet how much negotiating room there is, so we didn’t bargain very much. We just said no. But trust me, gentle reader, the merchandise is lovely; you are right to want it. And the merchants are friendly, eager to please. And you should pay less than half of whatever  they’re asking.