Fes el-Bali

Medieval walled medina with 9,000 car-free lanes since 789

The medieval medina, founded in 789, walled, and almost entirely closed to motor traffic — donkeys still do the heavy lifting on its 9,000-odd lanes. This is where the great monuments live (Al-Qarawiyyin, Bou Inania, the tanneries) but the experience is the labyrinth itself: blacksmiths and dyers and metal-beaters working in tiny shopfronts, food stalls steaming with harira and brochettes, hidden riads behind unmarked doors. Allow at least two full days. The main gates to enter by are Bab Boujeloud (the blue gate, the most famous) and Bab Rcif.

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