For our last day we had a private tour, by our taxi driver from yesterday, to see further sites of Marrakech. First he took us out into the country, passed the Medina walls and the Royal family’s residence to a traditional local house to have some mint tea and homemade biscuits.
Then on to a farm with a range of livestock including emus, horses and goats. 
Then back to the edge of the Medina to visit a tannery. This was so fascinating. 60 families work here, born into the trade to prepare the skins by soaking them in pigeon poo for up to 10 days, that they collect from a building. The ammonia strips the hair off and softens the leather. The hides are then put in a flour solution to further process them. The Guide gave us a great bunch of fresh mint to hold under our noses as it was a real stink.
We were then taken to where all the final products are displayed. Every thing from foot stools to handbags, shoes and leather clothing. Interestingly camel leather is so beautifully soft and a far better quality than cow leather. All the items are sewn by the women by hand. The leather is also dyed a multitude of different colours all with natural products. All these products are sold under a trade name of the Co-operative within the Medina which authenticates their quality. 
These were a display of all the products they use to dye the leather.
We then headed back out of town to the Olive Gardens of Menara. There are 88 hectares of olive trees that were originally created in 1157. We also visited the Pavillon De La Menara which overlooks the water supply to the trees and the centre-point of the gardens. 
No comments:
Post a Comment