Tanneries

This guide to the Tanneries in Marrakesh starts with a sprig of mint pressed into your hand before you look down at rows of stone pits, and explains why: a soak of pigeon droppings, urine and quicklime that strips hides much the old-fashioned way it did eight centuries ago. You'll hear why the trade was pushed to the city's eastern edge, upwind of the medina, and how a hide moves from that first soak through lime, kneading, and dye vats of saffron, poppy and indigo. Watch the men working the pits below, still using methods passed down through generations.