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LEATHER TANNERY

One of the most interesting sites in Fez is the Leather Souq and the oldest leather tannery in the world. The tannery dates back at least nine centuries.

When approaching the tannery the smell is the first suggestion that something different is about to appear. The smell drifts around the balcony from where all the activity can be viewed and is enough to put off the most enthusiastic of tourists. The stench is worth braving as the view over the balcony allows those watching to see a site that has not changed since the 11th century.

The tannery is composed of numerous stone vessels filled with a vast range of dyes and various odorous liquids. The tannery processes the hides (skins) of sheep and goats, turning them into high quality leather products such as bags, coats, shoes, slippers and other similar products. This is all achieved manually, without the need for modern machinery.

The workers stand in the stone vessels arranged like honeycombs, filled with different dyes, dying the arms and legs of the men. The hides are first soaked in diluted acidic pigeon excrement and then transferred to other vessels containing vegetable dyes such as henna, saffron and mint. When the dying process has been completed the hides are dried on the roofs of the Medina.

Excerpted from technologystudent.com

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FES, FEZ

Fes or Fez (Arabic: ???? Fas, French: Fes) is the second largest city of Morocco, following Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million (2010). It is the capital of the Fes-Boulemane region.

Fes, the former capital, is one of the country's four "imperial cities," the others being Rabat, Marrakech and Meknes. It comprises three distinct parts, Fes el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah) and the Ville Nouvelle (the French-created, newest section of Fes).

Fes el Bali is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its medina, the larger of the two medinas of Fes, is believed to be the world's largest contiguous car-free urban area. The University of Al-Karaouine, founded in AD 859, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the world. It has been called the "Mecca of the West" and the "Athens of Africa".

Excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sold for: $51, March, 2006 to Ponce in Indiana.

This item, and (I think) all of the ones after it are one of the actual pictures I used on ebay, crappy-looking compression artifacts and all.

This is another watch. Why two watches out of the first three items? Well, I found a bunch of old watches in my drawer, because I was looking for them, because I had recently caught a crazed consumerist fever for watches. This continues to some extent today (the picture I posted a day or two before I started this set is of a used soviet watch I bought last week). Kinda sucks, really, but I'm working on it. This particular watch was a Christmas gift in the 1990s.

Anyway, this sold for far, far more than it should have. It's a fashion watch from 10 years ago, which probably cost $50 new. So $50 used, ten years old with some scratches in the crystal and wear on the strap? sure! Ebay is funny.

Incidentally, I was really happy with this picture. This thing couldn't have looked much better.