Fes Things to Do Tips by amsterdam_vallon

The Dar El Makhzen

Fez's Royal Palace and gardens are strictly closed to the public, but they're an impressive sight even from the outside. From Place des Alaouites you can take a close look at the door's giant brass knockers, made by artisans from Fez el Bali, as well as the brass doors themselves. Inside are various palaces, gardens, and Places des Armes (arms squares or parade grounds), as well as a medersa founded in 1320. One of the palaces, Dar el Qimma, one of the wonders of Dar el Makhzen, has intricately engraved and painted ceilings. The street running along the palace's southeast side is Rue Bou Khessissat, one side of which is lined with typically ornate residential facades from the Mellah's edge.

The Entranced is not allowed

Directions: Inside the Fes El-Jedid (the new town)

The Attarin Medersa

The Attarin Medersa (Koranic school) was named for local spice merchants known as attar. Founded by Sultan Abou Saïd in the 14th century as a students' dormitory at the Kairaouine Mosque next door, it is arguably the loveliest medersa in Fez for its graceful proportions and elegant, geometrical carved-cedar ornamentation as well as its excellent state of preservation.

Opening Hours : Daily 9-13 and 15-18:30.

The Bab es Seba

Named for the seven (seba) brothers of Moulay Abdellah who reigned during the 18th century, the Gate of Seven connects two open spaces originally designed for military parades and royal ceremonies, the Petit Mechouar and Vieux Mechouar. It was from this gate that Prince Ferdinand, brother of Duarte, king of Portugal, was hung head-down for four days in 1437. (He had been captured during a failed Portuguese invasion of Tangier, and Portugal had failed to raise the ransom for his release.) His remains were subsequently stuffed and displayed here for 29 years.

The Bab Boujeloud

Built in 1913 by Gen. Hubert Lyautey, Moroccan commander under the French Protectorate, this gate is 1,000 years younger than the rest of the medina yet generally considered its most beautiful point of entry. The side facing out is covered with blue ceramic tiles painted with flowers and calligraphy; the inside is green, the official color of Islam -- or of peace, depending on the interpretation.

Address: Pacha-El-Baghdadi Place

The Nejjarine Fondouk

The Najjarin Funduq was built in 1711 by Amin Adiyil during the reign of the 'Alawid Sultan Isma'il b. Muhammad I al-Sharif, al-Samin (1672-1727). Located in the old city of Fez, or Fez al-Bali, the funduq opens onto the square of the Najjarin, or carpenters. It provided lodging and storage space for visiting merchants in three floors of rooms arranged around the central courtyard.

The funduq's monumental portal and the adjacent fountain are focal points of the small square of the carpenters, and are decorated with carved cedar wood, colourful mosaic tile revetment, and intricately carved stucco. Their decoration and forms create visual connections between the exterior space of the square and the interior space of the funduq's central courtyard, which is decorated with carved stucco and carved wooden balustrades.

This site as been put on the Unesco Heritage List in 1916.

Address: El-Najjarine Place

Phone: 055 62 34 60

The Kairaouine Mosque

One look through the doorway will give you an idea of the immensity of this place. With about 10,760 square ft, the Kairaouine was Morocco's largest mosque until Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque came along in the early 1990s. Stand at the door's left side for a peek through the dozen horseshoe arches into the mihrab (marked by a hanging light). An east-facing alcove or niche used for leading prayer, the mihrab is rounded and covered with an arch designed to project sound back through the mosque. Lean in and look up to the brightly painted and intricately carved ceiling. Built by the Kairaouine Fatima in 857, the Kairaouine Mosque became the home of the West's first university and the world's foremost center of learning at the beginning of the second millennium. Averroës, Maimonides, and Pope Sylvester II were among the celebrated scholars and teachers who studied and taught in Fez. Sylvester II (a Frenchman from the Auvergne, originally named Gerbert), who was pope from 999 to 1003, was also a legendary mathematician who introduced Europe to Arabic mathematical concepts, most notably the zero.

Opening Hours : Daily
COST: Free

The Can't miss:
- The Courtyard;
- The Praying Room;

To see more pictures of the Kairaouine Mosque : Inside the Kairouine Mosque

Entrance restricted to Muslims

Address: The Bou-Touil Street

Directions: Inside the Fes El-Bali District

Phone: 055 56 00 52

The Sahrij Medersa

Built by the Merenids in the 14th century, the medina's third-finest medersa is named for the pool (sahrij) on which its patio is centered. The cedar carvings here seem a particularly rich chocolate color late in the afternoon, and the birds roosting in the eaves seem especially numerous. The medersa provides rooms for Koranic studies sponsored by the Kairaouine Mosque; listen to hear students chanting the verses from the Koran from rooms over the central patio.

Opening Hours : Daily 9-13 and 15-18:30.
COST: 10 DH.

Address: Sidi-Bou-Ghaled Street

Directions: Inside the Andalusian District

Phone: 55 63 34 60 for info

The Andalusian Mosque

This mosque was built in AD 859 by Myriam, sister of the Fatima who had erected the Kairaouine Mosque on the river's other side two years earlier. The gate was built by the Almohads in the 12th century. The detailed wood carvings in the eaves, which bear a striking resemblance to those in the Fondouk Nejjarine, are the main thing to see here, as the mosque itself is set back and elevated, making it hard to examine from outside.

Entrance restricted to Muslims.

Address: Nekhaline Street

The El-Seffarine Square

The wide, triangular souk of the dinandiers, or coppersmiths, is one of the medina's largest open spaces, a comfortable break from tight crags and corners. Donkeys and their masters wait for transport work here, and a couple of plain trees are welcome reminders that this was once a fertile valley alongside the clear-running Fez River. Copper bowls are wrought and hammered over fires around the market's edge, and the smells of donkey droppings and soldering irons blend nicely in the sun. Looking into the Kairaouine Mosque at the top of the square is the Kairaouine University library, once one of the world's best book collections but not presently open to the public. Opposite the library and facing away from it is the Seffarine Medersa.

The Tanners District or the Suuq Dabbaghin

The medieval tanneries are at once beautiful, for their ancient dyeing vats of reds, yellows, and blues, and unforgettable, for the nauseating smell of rotting animal flesh on curing sheep, goat, cow, and camel skins. The terrace overlooking the dyeing vats is high enough to escape the place's full fetid power and get a spectacular view over the multicolor vats. Absorb both the process and the finished product at No. 2 Chouara Lablida, just past Rue Mechatine (named for the combs made from animals' horns): the store is filled with leather goods of all kinds, all of which smell terrific. One of the shopkeepers will explain to you what's going on in the tanneries below -- how the skins are placed successively in saline solution, lime, pigeon droppings, and then any of several natural dyes: antimony for black, poppies for red, saffron for yellow, mint for green, and indigo for blue. Barefoot workers in shorts pick up skins from the bottoms of the dyeing vats with their feet, then work them manually. Though this may look like the world's least desirable job, the work is actually very well paid and somewhat in demand. Studies on tannery workers' health have shown that tanners live, if anything, longer and healthier lives than workers in most other collectives. This might be because they need to be fit to do the work in the first place; or perhaps the foul-smelling liquids contain some as-yet-undefined curative properties.

To see more pictures of the Tanners District : Tanners District

Directions: Suuq Dabbaghin, or the tanners' quarter, is situated no more than 50 metres away from the Kairouyine mosque