What is the history of Fes?

Fes is where I send anyone who wants to understand Morocco at its deepest. It was founded in 789 by Idris I, and his son Idris II built it up around 808 into a true capital. Waves of Arab refugees from Kairouan and Andalusia settled the two riverbanks, and that double heritage — Tunisian and Spanish — still shapes the city’s sound and architecture.

In 859 a remarkable woman, Fatima al-Fihri, founded the Qarawiyyin mosque and university with her inheritance. It is recognised as one of the oldest continuously operating degree-granting institutions in the world. Walking past its doors, I always remind guests that scholars studied here while much of Europe was still in the early Middle Ages.

Fes el-Bali, the old walled city, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, by most counts, the largest car-free urban zone on the planet. Its lanes are too narrow for vehicles, so goods still move by mule and handcart. The Chouara tanneries, dyeing leather in stone vats exactly as they have for centuries, are the moment most of my guests never forget — bring a sprig of mint for the smell.

Under the Marinid dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries Fes reached its golden age, gaining its exquisite madrasas like the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine, with their carved cedar and zellij tilework. My advice is simple: hire a local guide for the medina, get pleasantly lost, and give Fes at least two full days. It does not perform for tourists; it simply lets you in.