Fez is Morocco’s medieval city, dating back ages and crowned with such epithets as “The Athens of Africa” and “The Mecca of the West.” It is Morocco’s second largest city, home to 1.1 million people, although you wouldn’t know it by arriving at the Fes airport.
We got to Fes, and found it to be a single-plane, tarmac-debarking affair. For a city as large and popular as Fez, I was surprised. I blame the season. It was August, and it was excruciatingly hot.
We spent a week in Fes, staying at the Riad Doha in the old Medina. I never really learned how to spell it, so I alternate between Fes and Fez. There’s also the red cap, which is a Fes. Or Fez.
The Fes Medina is for walking, and getting lost. I took the camera, and took these photos to share.
Photos of the Fes Medina

A view over the old Medina from the Necropole

A curious thing about Fez, and perhaps all of Morocco. In the Fes Medina I found these captured pigeons. Elsewhere in the city, there wasn’t a pigeon in sight.

A look down at the mosaic floor of the Riad Doha. Riads are guesthouses in the Medina, and are well renovated.

La Vache qui Rit is like the French Coca Cola, it’s everywhere they speak the language.

Hanging with some people outside the Riad Doha.

One day, we went for a meal at the Riad Rcif. Tangine. It was expensive, as you can eat a street meal for 20 Dirhams, but it was worth it to taste a traditional surprise.

There weren’t so many street dogs, plenty of street cats though. Here, Fes cats tear at the fish scraps in the old Medina.

Walking through the old Fes Medina

Speaking of 20 dirhams, this turkey sandwich with Moroccan red pepper cost that.

Bab Boujloud, one of the old gates into the Fez Medina

One of the constants in the Fes Medina were these prickly pears, a refreshing treat for the incredibly stiff heat.

The Old Medina in Fez was sometimes entirely held up by wooden braces.

You had to go quick across the wide, empty plazas like this, the Place Boujloud. Snakes, orange juice, and insecure adolescents… that’s pretty descriptive.

This boy was the one who sold us Pistachio juice for 2 dirhams.

The Jewish quarter in Fez

Lanterns made by Fes artisans, and on sale everywhere throughout the Medina.

The door knockers in the old Medina of Fes were especially photogenic.

The golden doors of the Fes royal palace.

A beautiful hand door knocker at the Riad Doha

The Al-Qarawiyyin mosque

A look down a street of the old Medina.

Walls of Fes

Inside a souk in the old market.

The tanneries. Fes is renowned for its artisans, who make clothes, carpets, leather ware, copper pans, etc.

Beautiful building facades in Fes

The principal form of transportation in Fes is by donkey

On the hills around the old Fes Medina are a number of cemeteries, with views back over the city and her mosques’ minarets.

Arabic doors at one of the Babs

A nighttime view over the Fes Medina,, with the Necropole on the hill, bright in the distance.
If these photos have given you some insight to Fez, maybe you’re inspired to visit. In that case, you can read about how to get around Fes, Morocco. Otherwise, here are some other travel blog posts you might be interested in:
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