Tanneries provide perhaps the greatest illustration of how resolutely some parts of Morocco have clung to practises developed in medieval times. Moroccan leather produced in F�s, has for centuries been highly prized as among the finest in the world. One type of leather, a soft goatskin used mainly in bookbinding, is itself known (naturally enough) as Morocco.
Many travellers say that not only do they find the smell almost unbearable, but they also feel uncomfortably voyeuristic about viewing from the roof terraces the tannery workers tending the skin in the souq down below.
Still, a visit to the tanneries on the outskirts medinas of F�s and Marrakesh must be right up there on the must-see list.
Crosscultural rounabout