Car Rental in Fez

Tourist information - Fez

The capital of Morocco for all together more than 400 years, home of the oldest university of the country and the leading cultural and religious centre. Fez is also the home of the oldest an largest medieval city in the world, a city that is almost unchanged through the modern ages and still most definately alive.

Fez (Arabic Fas), city, northern Morocco, located in a narrow valley. A commercial and religious center, it is on the trade routes that link the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea with the countries south of the Sahara. Fez is divided into two parts, an old and a new town. Located in the city are textile and flour mills, oil-processing plants, tanneries, soap factories, and a large handicraft industry. The fez, a brimless, cylindrical felt hat, takes its name from the city.

The city was founded in AD 808 by the Moroccan ruler Idris II, who built the celebrated mosque of Mulai Idris. This shrine is considered so sacred that non-Muslims and animals may not approach its entrance. Also in Fez is the great Qarawiyin Mosque, the largest in Africa.

Fez was founded at a place between the mountains where the river was flushing by. History has provided the city with long periods of hardship, but Fez has never died. Today it has its own culture, pride, art and even cuisine.

The Bali, or the oldest quarters of Fez, were to a large degree saved by the French general Lyautey. When the French got in control of Morocco around the time of World War I, he made all necessary arrangements to protect the medieval structures against the modern development.

The result is that Fez el Bali has taken good care of its old architectural structures and is also very much a living city, where most streets are too narrow for cars and donkeys and mules are in common use. Just like all through its history, Fez el Bali has a striking combination of poverty and developed culture.

Nothing appears to have changed for centuries here in Fez. Donkeys and mules are still the preferred vehicle here between house walls that were erected long before the first European Christian came to visit.

While life forms could appear to be crude and primitive to visitors, it is all a well tested organic structure that has survived more than 1000 years of history.