Natural adventures

Doors 336 – Doors of Marrakesh, the Tanneries, Morocco, January 2025 (Part XVI)

Good morning all – a slightly longer read this morning – if you don’t have time, feel free to jump straight to the doors below.

Towards the end of our stay in Marrakesh, my wife and daughter decided to treat themselves to some pampering in the hotel spa. Of course, I am far too rugged and manly for such things, and decided to go for a random walk through the souk markets in the Medina. I possibly bit off more than I could chew.

It took me about twenty minutes to get to the souks from our riad hotel in the south of the city, along roads and lanes that we had become quite familiar with during our stay. Once in the souks, though, it was a different matter. Navigating these narrow covered streets filled with tourists, mopeds, donkeys pulling carts and a million things to look at in the shops and stalls, can be challenging and bewildering to say the least. After about an hour of aimless meanderings, I became a little peckish and got it into my head that I wanted a crêpe pancake from a street seller. Surely a former French colony would have such a thing, although I hadn’t seen one since we arrived in the country.

It was something of a small miracle that I found exactly what I was looking for, a small stall, and so I ordered a lemon crêpe from a nice lady working two heated rings behind a Perspex screen. When it was ready, I took my treat to a small triangular open area away from the bustling crowds to eat it in relative peace. Almost immediately, a man came out of a doorway next to where I was standing and struck up a conversation. He asked me if I was heading to the tanneries, as it was the last day of a Berber festival, and it would be well worth a visit. I said that I might wander over there, and asked if he could point me in the right direction.

While he was explaining the route I should take, he spotted an acquaintance on a moped passing by. He called over to his ‘friend’ and asked if he wouldn’t mind leading me to the Tanneries if he was going that way. The young man said it would be no problem and walked alongside his moped, gesturing for me to follow him through the pulsing crowds of the souk. After a minute or two, he suggested I jump on the back of the scooter, as we could get there much quicker than walking. In for a penny, in for a pound I thought, so I duly joined him as his pillion passenger.

This episode was completely out of character for me, as I am usually quite cautious about such things. I imagine the spectacle was quite hilarious… a middle-aged Englishman wearing a green ‘Tilly’ sun hat, holding a crêpe in one hand and hanging on for dear life to a man he had met only minutes before with the other, perched on the back of a scooter, weaving through the crowds of the souks. The hair-raising journey took a few minutes, but knocked years off my life.

We eventually pulled up outside the Tanneries in the far north of the Medina, to my great relief. I had survived the first part of this adventure. Of course, there was no Berber festival, and I was beginning to sense that this might have been a bit of a ruse.

Next up, the young man led me into the Tanneries, looking for his ‘uncle’ who was a worker there who could show me round. A rather haggard old man showed up and took over from his ‘nephew’, who scooted off into the dusty streets. The old man waved me along and handed me a bunch of mint to help with the terrible smells of the Tanneries. As someone who worked on a fishing boat for a year, potent smells like that don’t particularly bother me, but I accepted the kind gesture.

The tour party consisted of him and me… no entry fee, no turnstile. I have to say I found this ancient place fascinating. There were dozens of pits filled with different agents – the only one I remember was the ‘pigeon poo’ which my guide took great pleasure in saying many times over. Thousands of animal hides were at different stages in the process of tanning – it looked like a complete mess to me, but I guess that there was a method going on that had been practiced over centuries. The guide was most obliging and informative and let me take as many pictures from various vantage points as I wanted.

The catch.

After the tour, I was ready to work out my route home, but the old man ushered me along a street and into ‘the gift shop’. I was welcomed into a leather emporium by a rather large and cheerful fellow who urged me to take my time looking at the leather goods. At this point I realised what this whole surreal adventure was a tried and tested ‘scam’ to get people to buy authentic leather goods at extortionate prices.

I milled about the place, without any intention of buying anything at all. The shopkeeper became a little bit more pushy, suggesting all sorts of things I might want. I spotted some belts on a rack, I had actually been looking for a belt, and asked about the prices. The shopkeeper’s opening offer was insane, so I thought about what I’d pay for such a belt in the UK. I suggested my price, he said a price about four times my price.

This conversation was doomed, as I wasn’t going to budge, and I think we both sensed it. I stated for a final time my offer, which proved to be a turning point. The shopkeeper became angry and rude and told me to get out of the shop, an outcome I wasn’t bothered about, but his rudeness was quite unlike anything we had experienced throughout our time in Marrakesh.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Tanneries guide was waiting for me outside and demanding payment for the tour. I figured that I had received a tour for free, so offered him what I considered to be a fair price. Of course, he complained and said that he had to pay fees to some kind of consortium. I told him that was all he was getting. He cursed, followed me for a bit, and then returned to the Tanneries for his next sucker.

Getting back to the hotel on foot took well over an hour, and I photographed a few doors en route, reflecting on the crazy adventure I had had.

I have since read on Trip Advisor that this is a well known scam, and the average rating for a trip to the Tanneries is little over one star. To be honest I had a great experience, not entirely comfortable, but something I could never have planned… a fluid, exciting, unexpected adventure and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Enjoy finding some doors in these Tanneries photographs:

I hope you enjoyed the mini-adventure as much as I did, and perhaps if you clutch a sprig of mint, you might sense the masking effect of the other smells around you. Next time it’s off to a Madrassa.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s weekly Thursday Doors post and his Sunday recap.