Old Fez

It’s getting warmer and we’re seeing more and more of Old Morocco: Fez (founded in AD 808! Today we ventured out and started at an old fort type building that guarded the city years ago: views were spectacular! How’s the song go “I can see for miles and miles”? Yup quite the view. Then we went on to the actual are call Old Fez.

Next stop was to Mellah, inside the walled city, which became a Jewish quarter in the 14th century and became a refuge for the Jewish community and was originally home to 250,000 Jews. Since the creation of the state of Israel, however, only a handful now remain and many just gave their homes to the Moroccan government. We also visited a Jewish cemetery and the old synagogue. Our guide was given permission to lift part of the Torah where we could see the sheepskin where the words of the Torah were written. Not many Jewish citizens in the area now, so it sits mostly unused.

We proceeded on to what is called Old Fez, it really is a labyrinthine of narrow lanes, alleys and souks, like about 9000 of them. Within all the cacophony of shops and noise, there is one of the oldest functioning universities of the world, Karaouine.

Okay… no one needs a history lesson from me… So, a grand batch of photos is below!