Know what to see, what to visit and what to do when traveling to Fez

Fez, historic city, melting pot of cultures, labyrinth of legends, mosaic of handicrafts, indigo sky and pink afternoon, and floating in the air, the notes of the Mohecin song, calling from one of its hundreds of mosques to prayer.

FEZ MARRUECOS

Few cities remain in the world that retain a character as medieval as Fez. Visiting Fez is like traveling through time, like opening a door and entering the setting of an oriental tale.

Information about Fez

Fez is still one of the imperial cities, in fact the first, since its foundation dating from the ninth century, and symbol of this capital, is its marvelous royal palace, Dar el Makhzen, which from the 14th century houses the royal family Alahuí , Descendants of the prophet and monarchs of Morocco. The majestic bronze doors, the preciousness of its tiles in green and blue tones, the walls and filigree of its plasterwork, leave no visitor immune, making us dream of what we can not see, imagining sumptuous halls, gardens of Eden, Marble fountains dotted with rose petals, holy stick furniture, mahogany and cedar, and ivory, malachite, gold, and precious stones.

Near The Royal Palace of Fez lies the Jewish quarter, the well-known Mellah (this word means salt, which was formerly used as a means of payment, hence the origin of the word salary, since it was probably the Jews who had the Monopoly of this appreciated condiment). Many of the original inhabitants of this neighborhood were the Sephardic Jews, who fled Spain after the edict of expulsion of the Catholic Monarchs, and who had to organize the diaspora towards Portugal and Morocco, leaving their imprint and traditions forever in the annals Of some cities like Fez, Rabat, Tangier, etc.

However, if there is one element that defines Fez, it is his medina, in the part that we know as Fez the Bali. World Heritage since 1981, it is the largest medina in the world. In it we find architectural jewels, such as the Andalusian Mosque or the 9th century Mezqita Qaraouiyin, the Medersa Bou Inania and Attarine, the gates of Bab Boujloud, or the Nejjarine and Seffarine squares. But if there is something surprising in the medina of Fez is its inexhaustible display of various trades, many of them already lost in the Western world. In the medina of Fez we will find forgers, potters, blacksmiths, dyers, tanners, tailors, spinners, charcoal makers, bakers, each in his neighborhood and in a defined place of the medina, since this is organized by guilds, as in The average age. We can not forget your typical means of transport in the medina, donkeys, loaded with various goods enter and leave the medina to the cry of "Balak", which means care, and that impels us to stick to the wall not to be rolled up In the narrowness of its winding alleys.

The tourists and foreigners are mixed in their alleys, squares and adarves, and are not surprised by the infinite wealth that in every corner of the medina find, by the idiosyncrasy of these kind people, by the mixture of smells and colors that define Made like that city of the thousand and one nights that evokes our memory.

What to do

Bab Buylud is one of the main accesses to the medina, it is two adjoining doors that one of the s. XII and the other of the s. XX. The facades are decorated with green tiles in the inner part to the medina and blue in the outside.

The Andalusian neighborhood Founded by Cordovan families expelled from Spain in 818 In their tour the Mosque of Andalusians stands out.

In the tanners' neighborhood, you will be able to observe some of the most striking traditions of the area, where every day the workers dye the skins that are then delivered to the Moroccans, inside the honeycombs of jars filled with chemical tins and cow urine . The stench comes with sprigs of mint, but the medieval scene it offers to your eyes makes up for it.

Museums

Madraza Bounania "What is beautiful is not expensive, whatever the price, nor are the things that they like to pay for them." With these words, the sultan who ordered the construction of the madrasa between 1350 and 1357, broke without looking at the bills Justified the extreme price that had been paid for his work. This architectural work is the last and largest of the Medersa Merinis of Fez, and is one of the few mosques in use that allows access to the interior to non-Muslims.

Madraza Attarin Built in the year 1323. It is named after the souk where it is located, the spices, its courtyard, surrounded by columns and stucco, evokes the Nasrid period of the Alambra. This madrasa is illuminated with a magnificent lamp of century XIV that was of bronze. In the center of the courtyard was a marble pylon from which the water flowed.

Al Qarawiyin Mosque Initiated in the year 856 by Fatima al Fihriya, thanks to a donation from the Caliph of Cordoba, Adberramán III, which claimed to be a modest place of worship, became one of the largest architectural complexes in Fez. In which is a wonderful library, which came to have a bibliographical background of more than 320,000 volumes in the seventeenth century. Today it has 30,000 of them, among which there are 10,000 ancient manuscripts. It is one of the three most important Koranic universities in the Islamic world.

The Funduq That served as inn and warehouse of merchandise of the merchants who came to the city. In it you can appreciate the work of the looms.