Still new to Morocco, we thought we might like to see the Artisans Vocational Training Center, just a few blocks outside the gates. Here, our ryad host assured us, we might see people learning the traditional crafts in a modern setting, with a gift shop of articles made on the premises–and no haggling. We thought we might prefer to avoid the stress of bargaining while obtaining some article of genuine handicraft. We thought we might enjoy a small pedestrian excursion outside the medina.

We were wrong on both counts.

The walk was hot. Vehicles racing by on the wide roadway made it hard even to talk. The pollution was more noticeable. The walk was not pretty.

It was Sunday. Being government funded, the place kept sane government hours. It was closed.

However, the amiable security guard did take one of the better pictures of Dan and me.

The walk back to the medina brought us past a shady park near the Royal Stables. And there we saw a most interesting sight.

 We also passed through a beautiful gate to the medina, the Bab Riafa, and walked by the palace of the king (always guarded, seldom occupied).

Determined to see the Artisans’ School, we returned the next day. Yes, the walk was still hot, noisy, and polluted–but this time the school was open.

The shop had only a limited selection; the prices, while probably lower than a medina merchant’s asking price, were significantly more than a well-bargained final price in the medina. And many of the workshops in the school were empty.

We did get to look at some of the work in process–plaster carving, for example–that might not be seen elsewhere. And the drawings in the window of the musical-instrument workshop beckoned.

And we watched for a while in awed silence while a teacher instructed his apprentice in the making of an oud.

 We returned via a different gate–the lovely, but traffic-congested, Bab Boujloud.

If I had it to do over again, I don’t think I’d take this walk. Certainly not twice. If I wanted to see something–a garden, perhaps–in the newer part of town, I’d take a petit taxi. If I wanted to take a walk to someplace different, I’d go see the Mellah or the Andalusian Quarter. If I wanted to watch crafts-work in process, I’d find out more about how to see workshops in the medina.

But somehow, watching a young man learning to craft an ancient instrument made the entire excursion worthwhile.