Hello beautiful people, today we will bring you on a journey through the secrets and beauties of Fes, the former capital of Morocco, and one of the most incredible cities in the whole African continent!
Founded in 789 AD, it quickly became a political, religious, and intellectual center, serving as Morocco’s capital multiple times over the centuries.
Today, the city is home to over 1.1 million people, and its historic core, Fes el-Bali, is recognized by UNESCO as the largest car-free urban area in the world, with more than 9,000 narrow alleys!
The city is famous for its ancient artisan industries still active today (of which we will talk later!), and an urban structure that has remained largely intact for over a millennium!
Fes is also conveniently located in the heart of Morocco, not far from Casablanca (3 hours ride), the blue city of Chefchaouen and the Sahara desert, making in it an ideal starting point for visiting Morocco.
If you would like to enjoy the whole Moroccan experience then, we can definitely recommend to start from here your journey, and then make your way South with a 4-Day Fes to Marrakesh Desert Tour! 🙂
The tour is an immersive experience that brings you from the ancient capital of Fez, through the Sahara desert at Merzouga, historic kasbahs, the High Atlas Mountains, and ends into the chaotic Marrakesh (the “rival city” of Fez 😉
That said, let’s start from the beginning and let’s discover 10 curiosities about Fes that will surprise you! 😉
10 Fun Facts about Fes, Morocco
1. In Fes, there is the oldest
still-active University in the World!
Fes is home to Al-Qarawiyyin University, founded in 859 AD, officially recognized by UNESCO as the oldest continuously operating university in the world.
This means, to give you an idea, that while much of Europe was still in the early Middle Ages, scholars in Fes were already studying theology, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, and law!
What makes this story even more remarkable is that the university was founded by Fatima al-Fihri, a woman who invested her inheritance in education more than 1,160 years ago.
The complex still functions today as both a mosque and a university, deeply embedded in the daily life of the medina.
Sadly, being the university a religious complex in Fez, it is off-limits for tourists, but it is still possible to view its beautiful architecture from the main doors, particularly the courtyard (ps. it’s always crowded during the day!).
2. The Tanneries in Fes,
Have Been Working for Over 1,000 Years!
You won’t believe how little has changed inside the leather tanneries of Fes over the last millennium.
When we arrived at the tanneries with our tour guide, we were shocked by how out-of-history-books this place looked. Animal skins were drying all around the canals’ sides, and the smell of leather was so strong that they gave us some leaves of mint to keep under our noses.
The guide told us some people feel sick because of the smell,l and that’s why they give mint, but personally I found myself enjoying it ahah!
The famous Chouara Tannery, the most photographed tannery of Fez, has been active since at least the 11th century, making it one of the oldest industrial sites still in use anywhere on Earth.
Artisans here still soften and dye animal hides using limestone, natural enzymes, and pigments derived from saffron, indigo, mint, and poppy flowers.
Yes, the smell is strong — but that smell is the byproduct of a process that produces some of the highest-quality leather in Morocco!
Can you imagine doing the same job, in the same place, using the same methods, as your ancestors a thousand years ago? That’s a hell of a continuity we can witness here! 🙂
On a side note: Here you can also find some of the most impressive leather goods (shoes, colorful jackets, bags, laptop cases etc.) that you will ever find on Earth! They are not incredibly cheap as you might expect, but the quality is top notch!
3. Inside the Medina,
it’s often way cooler than outside!
Did you know that walking inside the medina can feel 5 to 10°C cooler than the modern parts of the city?
We realized it once we took a walk outside the city walls: inside, we had to wear a jacket (it was January!); outside, we were melting in the sun!
Later, when we came back, we realized that thitemperature changere is not luck: it is a brilliant design developed centuries before air conditioning existed!
Narrow alleys block direct sunlight, thick stone walls retain cool air, and inward-facing houses create shaded microclimates.
The whole Fez medina, with its 9000+ alleys, is an entire city optimized for thermal comfort using nothing more than architecture and physics: it’s truly impressive!
All in all, we can see Fes as a living lesson in passive climate control, long before sustainability became a modern obsession 😉
4. Door colors once revealed social status
Next time you walk through the medina, look closely at the doors — they are telling you stories!
Blue tones? They were associated with spirituality, wisdom, and protection!
Green doors? Associated with Islam, most religious buildings had green doors!
Black or dark metals? Associated with craftmen and metalworkers (common in artisan-heavy streets).
And then there were the carvings and decorations!
Historically, the color, material, and carvings of a door revealed information about the family living inside: the more intricate and decorated the door, the wealthier the owner likely was.
In a city where privacy was essential, doors becameini the centuries a silent language which could be recognized by locals without speaking words. 🙂
5. There Is a Historic Andalusian Quarter
6. We Consider It One of the 100 Most Beautiful Places in the World
If you’re following our blog for a while, you probably know that last year we drew by hand two scratch-posters to celebrate traveling: one containing the Top 100 Destinations in Italy (we also wrote an article about them!), and one about the Top 100 Destinations in the World.
Above here, you can find a photo of the whole scratch-poster without golden foil, and…did you know we decided to include Fes among the 100 most beautiful places in the world on our scratch map?
Yes, we found it so incredibly amazing!
Let’s see if you can find our drawing of it on the map 😉
Hint: it’s in bottom half 😉
7. 7) Fes was an Imperial Capital…
More Than Once!
Did you know that Fes served as Morocco’s capital multiple times between the 9th and the early 20th century?
Founded in 789 AD, Fes quickly became the political, religious, and intellectual center of the kingdom under several dynasties, including the Idrisids (8th-10th century), Marinids (13-15th century), and Wattasids (15th-16th century).
For centuries, decisions that shaped the entire country were made within its walls.
Even after that, the capital of Morocco shifted multiple times from Marrakech to Fes before finally becoming Rabat in 1912 because of its strategic position on the Atlantic coast (it was changed under the French Protectorate and remained that after independence, too!).
Even after Rabat officially became the capital, Fes still retained enormous influence through its universities, religious institutions, and artisan guilds 🙂
8. The Medina Is a
Defensive Labyrinth by Design
Getting lost in Fes is almost GUARANTEED — mark my words!
I don’t know how many times we got lost, walked the same alleys in circles over and over XD.
Personally, I don’t mind getting lost (our blog is named LOST ON THE ROUTE for a reason xD) and found it pretty funny… Google Maps is mostly useless inside the Medina as alleys are so small andthe GPS signal is so poor that make the app very unreliable.
Every time we got lost, we asked around for help, and we found locals to be always very friendly and helpful (yes, sometimes to show you the way, they bring you to their shop, but that’s part of Moroccan culture too eheh).
What we discovered from locals is that the medina of Fes el-Bali contains over 9,000 narrow alleys, making it the largest car-free urban area in the world, according to UNESCO, and that the complex layout was originally designed as a defensive system during medieval times.
Narrow streets prevent fast movement, dead ends trap intruders, and sudden turns can disorient anyone unfamiliar with the city (I tried it in first person, and I took 3 days to start getting the hang of it!).
A local guide also told us that residents could instantly recognize outsiders just by their hesitation or walking rhythm… I don’t know how true that could be, but surely fascinating to think about it 🙂
9. It Stayed Authentic
Because It Was Never “Convenient”
Here’s the paradox that saved Fes: it was never easy to modernize!
Cars cannot enter the medina, streets are too narrow for heavy machinery, and infrastructure upgrades require extreme care.
That’s why it’s common to still see donkeys and people still pushing carts on the steep alleys of the Medina.
Can you imagine trying to install modern plumbing or electricity in buildings that are 800 to 1,000 years old?
Because large-scale redevelopment was impractical, Fes avoided the aggressive urban transformations that erased history elsewhere.
Doing so, while many historic cities were reshaped to fit modern life, Fes forced modern life to adapt to its ancient structure, and that’s why walking through its streets feels like jumping back in time!
10) It’s a City of Artisans, Not Souvenir Shops
Fes is home to thousands of active artisans, many working in the same trades for generations!
On our Fes walking tour, we had the honour to witness so many different artists at work: metalworkers, wood carvers, leather tanners, embroiders, argan oil makers, weavers…
In the medina, crafts are organized by guild and street, a system that dates back centuries and is still functional today.
Some workshops are no bigger than a few square meters, yet produce goods that take weeks or even months to complete by hand.
What struck us most is that these are not demonstrations for tourists, but real jobs that support families and keep traditional knowledge alive!
.
Conclusions 🙂
And here we are at the end of our article! 🙂
Today we have learned 10 curious facts about Fez and its ancient history, culture, architecture and traditions.
Before going, as always, I want to ask you:
- Have you ever been to Fes before?
- How was your experience? Where have you been?
- Do you have tips you would like to share with fellow readers?
Let us know in the comments below! 😀
Hereafter, I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:
Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article!
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