Fez city a cultural heritage Morocco

Fez el Bali, the old town of Fez, is one of the biggest medieval cities in the world and one of the jewels of Morocco. This immense medina is classed as a Worldwide Heritage Site by UNESCO. Secret corners abound, giving the impression of life in another time.

Pass through the Bab Boujeloud, one of the fourteen gates in the ramparts of Fez el Bali, and you enter a fascinating world where clocks seem to have stopped long ago, around the year 808 AD, the year of its foundations. It was then that it became the first capital of the Kingdom under Idriss II. Improved under the Almoravid (1061-1147) and Almohad dynasties (1147-1248), Fez grew and became an important political and commercial centre in the 13th century under the Merinids. In the 19th century, King Moulay Abdallah made it the spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco.

Fez a cultural heritage

Twelve centuries of history have fashioned this magnificent imperial city. Several of the country’s most beautiful buildings can be found in this very cosmopolitan centre.

The Medina alone, unchanged since its origins, covers 330 hectares. It is a disconcerting labyrinth made up of 9,400 tortuous alleys, where it is a pleasure to lose yourself.185 mosques and nearly 500 palaces can be found there, including some of the gerns of Arabo-Andalusian architecture. Important works are taking place that will restore this fantastic heritage site to its former glory.

Fez city in Morocco the spiritual and cultural centre

Stroll through the alleys

Like sheets of light, the first rays of sunshine penetrate the laths of roseaux that cover the souks and provide them with refreshing shade. Sweet, sugared, amber, bitter, sharp smells mix together. Life gravitates around the market stalls loaded with their pyramids of spices, slippers, carpets, fruits and meat.

« Balekl Balek! » (Look out! Look out!). The muletiers have priority and call majestically for the bubbling, jostling crowd to make a path through the « derbs » (the narrow roads that wind through the Medina). The old Medina of Fez consists of different neighbourhoods that are affiliated to the numerous craft guilds. Markets and dwellings crowd together in a heady kaleidoscope of sounds, colours and smells. To enter the spirit, you must wander through the alleys and let yourself be carried along on the tide. Take the time to look, to breathe and feel the energy that animates this old city of 160,000 habitants.

As with all Moroccan medinas, life in each neighbourhood turns around five focal points. There is the bread oven, where the women leave the dough to be cooked, the fountain, with its crystalline sounds, and the hammam, which is the centre of social life. On the cultural side, there is the mosque, the spiritual centre, and the medersa, the Koranic school. The Bou Inania medersa, built between 1350 and 1357, is considered amongst the most beautiful of theological colleges because of its Arabo-Andalusian architecture. With its white marble columns, its zellige (decorative tiles), stucco adorned with plants and verses of the Koran and ceilings of sculptured cedar, it is a masterpiece.

The mosque, the jewel of the Maghreb

Five times a day the spellbinding chants of the muezzin echo out to call the faithful to prayer and near the magnificent Kairouan (or Qaraouiyyin) mosque, the crowd is at its densest. It can hold 20,000 people but it is difficult to appreciate all its dimensions and non-Muslims are not allowed to enter.
The mosque was founded in the 9th century by the Kairouans and then enlarged by the Almoravid Sultan, Ali ben Youssef, in the 12th century. The roof is covered with sparkling emerald tiles. Its elegant fountains are adorned with mosaics and its courtyards are made from marble. The university, built between 859 and 862 AD, is one of the oldest to be found anywhere and its library is one of the best in the Muslim world, containing more than 30,000 books.

Fez, a secret city with mysteries for travellers to Morocco

A mosaic of crafts
Little by little, as the traveller ventures further into the medina, his senses will become accustomed to the different sounds. In the Place As-Seffarine, metallic hammering testifies to the presence of craftsmen making large marriage platters and table services in copper and brass. Further on, the humming of sewing machines and the ringing of chisels on stone moulds can be heard. Emerging onto a little shaded square, the air is filled with the repetitive sound of tapping hammers. This is the neighbourhood where zellige has been produced for a thousand years. Zellige, the marvellous multicoloured mosaics that can be seen on fountains, patios and columns. Here and there, a turn into an alley can reveal a fondouk, an old caravenserai, where the itinerant salesmen could stay and expose their wares. One of the most beautiful in the medina is to be found in the Place An-Nejjarine. It has been renovated and turned into a Museum of wood arts and crafts.

You can tell by the smell when you are approaching Fez’s famous tanneries with their stinking run-off. From the height of a platform, the visitor can watch the agile tanners. Their methods of working around the massive vats of natural colorants have hardly changed for centuries. The skins are soaked in these vats before being turned into the leather goods that have made the reputation of the craftsmen of Fez. Fez, a secret city that can be made to reveal some of its mysteries, a city that offers a myriad of voyages.

Tetouane: ‘Daughter of Granada’

The Daughter of Granada You see these Berber women again, deep in the heart of the Medina at Tetouane, the equally fascinating and historic centre of this elegant city east of Tangier. In the Berber language Tetouane means ‘open your eyes’, probably refering to its rapid construction in the 15th century by Andalucian refugees. Exiled from Southern Spain, these Muslim and Jewish settlers brought with them a sophisticated architectural and decorative tradition evident in the elaborate wrought iron balconies, ornate plasterwork and gleaming tiles. Tetouanis call their city ‘Daughter of Granada’, and the well maintained formal grandeur of the buildings fronting wide straight Iberian-style streets contrasts vividly with the disorder of the miniscule alleys of the Medina fascinating but hectic, with every kind of commercial and craft endeavour. Yet its inhabitants, given a smile and a « Bonjour », are fulsomely warm and welcoming.

The pace really slows down in the charming, sleepy little town of Asilah, beneath which the sea laps at 16th century Portuguese ramparts. Its Palais Raisuli was the headquarters of the notorious bandit Ahmed el Raisuli who succeeded in extracting a handsome ransom for the Times correspondent Walter Harris who he’d kidnapped but who became his friend. The palace of the pirate-pasha is now the competitions venue for painters, poets and musicians every August. Asilah is famous for its murals, painted on every available space during its two week cultural festival.
Tetouane, Asilah, the lovely town of Chechaouan, and of course Tangier itself, are the main lures away from hotel, pool and beach for travellers to this region. Nowadays another kind of visitor is drawn to this beautiful coastline where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and Spain almost touches Morocco. The cosmopolitan yachting fraternity has begun to appreciate how different the two worlds are.

Marinasmir, Morocco’s first leisure marina provides an exciting contrast as a pleasure destination to some of the marinas in southern Spain. Expertly managed by Marina Marbella, the port provides all the modem requirements and necessities for luxury boats to more comfortably and safely, yet with the charm of North Africa just outside the gates. The adjoining 4km of beaches are almost emerald Caribbean. The port itself has many international and local restaurants; there are also clubs and pubs – but in the greatest possible Moorish taste, as the style is strictly traditional. Visitors in July and August will enjoy meeting the Moroccan jet set from Rabat and Casablanca, when BMW’s and Sea Rays motor boats play elegantly, with just a hint of Gucci or Paris on the piers. Every August Marina Marbella put on a gala Moroccan night with a huge flotilla of boats enjoying bedouin tents, snake charmers, camel rides, traditional dancing, couscous, mint teas and open fires.

For those not living on board, elegant and still reasonably-priced villas and flats built in the modern Moorish style are one alternative.
Lovers of beach holidays without crowds and with all the creature comforts should take a close look at the Hyatt Hotel at Marinasmir.lt boasts a river-like swimming pool through the links gardens, leading almost to the sandy beach via a spectacular ha-ha waterfall. Located just a pebble’s throw from the fun of the Marina, guests can enjoy barbecues on the panoramic terraces at lunchtime and dine portside in the evening – and there’s a lively piano bar and international restaurant too. The hotel is a real swinger in July and August, but for the other months it makes a tranquil and luxurious getaway.

The secret is out – the whisper is that this part of the North African coast is the new Cote d’Azur. It’s no secret that the official Tangier ‘season’ begins on April 1st and ends on November 15th, but my advice is to go there soon – at any time of the year.

Tangier’s Medina

In the evening I was escorted into the heart of the Medina to an extraordinary home owned by Australian-born Barry Stern. A serious art collector, Barry has brought together antique and contemporary works from all over the world, and took me on an hour-long tour of his miniature Moorish palace, in which he holds parties rumoured to rival those of Barbara Hutton (who used to pay guests to go away when she grew bored), or Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams… Yves Saint Laurent – any of the celebrities who chose to create a home in Tangier.

Hidden Medina Then of course there’s the secret African aspect of Tangier, whose ancient Medina is memorably evoked by Paul Bowles: « rich in prototypal dream scenes; covered streets like corridors with doors opening into rooms on either side, hidden terraces high above the sea, streets consisting only of steps, dark impasses, small squares built on sloping terrain so that they looked like ballet sets designed in false perspective, with alleys leading off in several directions; as well as the classical dream equipment of tunnels, ramparts, ruins, dungeons and cliffs. »

Like everyone else I was ‘doing’ the Medina, though privileged to be taken straight to the premier oulets for Moroccan crafts and antiquities by Tangier Revisited. This saved me not only copious amounts of time but also substantial sums of money. Rather than just making do with a traditional Moroccan guide, they provided me with a British art and furnishings expert as well, so that any items requested could be sourced, explained or advised upon. At Abdul Latif’s cavernous treasure trove, where I bought some brass lamps, the ‘no hassle’ factor is such that I was told: « If you buy a carpet and find that you don’t like it when back home, even after twenty years you will get your original purchase price back. » At the Boutique Majid I detected a feminine note in the display of textiles and choice of fabulous jewellery, some of the old amber pieces being so precious that they are marked ‘Private Collection’. Abdel Majid is married to a European and together they plan a shopaholics’ complex – again with the emphasis on minimum sales pressure, in which coffee and Moroccan pastries will be served.

Tangier’s Medina is a particularly atmospheric one with many tantalising glimpses of hidden lives: veiled women disappearing down dark tunnel-like alleys, youths in dark glasses charging down infinitely worn steps. It reeks of antiquity and discretion (though not with questionable odours – the fish and meat souks could not have smelled sweeter). The city is treated as a permanent souk by the people of the countryside surrounding it, and on Thursdays and Sundays the Berber women from the Rif Mountains come in to trade, dressed in broad straw hats trimmed with black pompoms, and distinctive red and white striped Fouta cloths.

Tangier ancient Medina traditional Moroccan guide

Hidden Medina Then of course there’s the secret African aspect of Tangier, whose ancient Medina is memorably evoked by Paul Bowles: « rich in prototypal dream scenes; covered streets like corridors with doors opening into rooms on either side, hidden terraces high above the sea, streets consisting only of steps, dark impasses, small squares built on sloping terrain so that they looked like ballet sets designed in false perspective, with alleys leading off in several directions; as well as the classical dream equipment of tunnels, ramparts, ruins, dungeons and cliffs. »

Like everyone else I was ‘doing’ the Medina, though privileged to be taken straight to the premier oulets for Moroccan crafts and antiquities by Tangier Revisited. This saved me not only copious amounts of time but also substantial sums of money. Rather than just making do with a traditional Moroccan guide, they provided me with a British art and furnishings expert as well, so that any items requested could be sourced, explained or advised upon.

At Abdul Latif’s cavernous treasure trove, where I bought some brass lamps, the ‘no hassle’ factor is such that I was told: « If you buy a carpet and find that you don’t like it when back home, even after twenty years you will get your original purchase price back. » At the Boutique Majid I detected a feminine note in the display of textiles and choice of fabulous jewellery, some of the old amber pieces being so precious that they are marked ‘Private Collection’. Abdel Majid is married to a European and together they plan a shopaholics’ complex – again with the emphasis on minimum sales pressure, in which coffee and Moroccan pastries will be served.

Tangier, a city « by invitation »

Party Invitations There is a secret Tangier, a city « by invitation », of which you might not be aware, unless you know the right person, and have been ‘properly’ introduced. « The most interesting things about Tangier the average tourist doesn’t get to see;’ I was told time and time again, and was blessed to be initiated into a few of them by kind residents of the artistic community. There’s no ambience more redolent of the expatriate love affair with Morocco than David Herbert’s home, but that enchanting house and garden are not advertised, and in any case have only a few bedrooms.

I was also invited to the private home of Anne Lambton, who gives select lunch and dinner parties for specialist travel agents such as Annie Austin, whose company Secret Homes and Gardens – also offers Special Garden Tours to Morocco. Similarly, Tangier Revisited invites their customers to private lunches and dinners in Tangerine homes as part of their art and furnishing buying trips. Guests can see for themselves how individual artefacts can be put to the most ingenious and beautiful of decorative uses and give them ideas and inspiration for their own places back home.

Real Moroccan Cuisine Terroir was prepared for a stimulating group of international guests that day by Anne Lambton’s cook. The lovely Villa Palma, high up on Vielle Montagne, is a covetable example of indoor/outdoor Tangier lifestyle, plant-filled and decorated with Anne’s needlepoint work with its Iion-theme imagery.

In the evening I was escorted into the heart of the Medina to an extraordinary home owned by Australian-born Barry Stern. A serious art collector, Barry has brought together antique and contemporary works from all over the world, and took me on an hour-long tour of his miniature Moorish palace, in which he holds parties rumoured to rival those of Barbara Hutton (who used to pay guests to go away when she grew bored), or Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams… Yves Saint Laurent – any of the celebrities who chose to create a home in Tangier.

Tangier history in Morocco

Drawn by the light of North Africa, the oriental architecture of Tangier, her warm people – and not least by the temperate climate – painters, musicians and authors have settled in this riveting city since the 1920′s.

Artists from Delacroix onwards, including Matisse and Van Dongen – right up to Francis Bacon – have painted here. I was shown Degas’ signature from 1899 in the guest book of the unmissable Hotel Continental.

Famous – and at times controversial- as a gay resort, it drew Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote and Joe Orton amongst myriad others. Tangier was the inspiration of the Beat Writers of the Fifties, such as William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, and home to an occasionally outrageous, often bizarre, always colourful floating community of exiles, refugees and expatriates. Though the American author Paul Bowles may have immortalised Tangier’s disreputable aspect – and has become a legendary figure in the Tangier city, still living there in utter seclusion – Moroccan resistance fighters found refuge in Tangier, achieving the expulsion of the Spanish and French. It is this gloriously rich pageant of past lives and times that makes the city so addictive.
Visiting the city today you have no excuse to lie and fry on the beach – there’s the thoroughly Mediterranean alterative of art galleries, museums, as well as people-watching from cafes and bars or on the evening Pasco – that see-and-be-seen ritual so beloved of southern European towns. Part of Tangier’s questionable contemporary reputation is that it is perceived as seedy and run-down, and indeed some of the famous cafés and hotels have seen better days decoratively. But for me that’s part of their hugely atmospheric charm – shades of early James Bond movies and even earlier Bogart/Bacall classics. The terraces of the Cafe Hafa, overlooking the Strait, are by no means smart, but this was the haunt of the Rolling Stones in their prime, and of Seventies hippies. Dream on, along with the snoozing cats.

Morocco Tangier’s Medina Moorish architectural

Drawn to Tangier Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress – she who had the streets of Tangier’s Medina widened to allow her Rolls Royce access to her palace – may no longer be giving away her silk underwear after a day’s use, but there’s still a high-flying international community treating Tangier as home, rather than as a secondary residence, inter-marrying and – in several cases – leaving their properties to Moroccans on their deaths.

In the poetic gardens of the English Church of St Andrew, where Moorish architectural details meet English country churchyard, I found the tombstone of the British writer David Herbert, inscribed simply « He Loved Morocco« . I was taken to his house by another Briton, who with his partner have established an active outlet for contemporary Moroccan art – the Tanjah Flandriah Gallery. Herbert’s house was willed to Jdaoudi Noureddine, who cared tenderly for Herbert until his death – « like I would look after my baby sister », our Moroccan driver commented. Now Noureddine and his family tend and live in a complex of three homes (one of which was built for them by Herbert during his lifetime), receiving guests in two of them. The main house is a symphony of fashionable Moroccan style, with its Moorish arches revealing one vividly painted room after another, local fabrics and furniture, and one of the most peaceful gardens imaginable. We sipped mint tea outside in February, while bright little birds twittered, and pink bougainvillea already clambered luxuriantly over the coral-coloured walls.

Tangier: luxury and arts

If you can draw yourself away from the beautiful beach hotels such as Le Mirage and the Hyatt at Marinasmir, the Hotel EI Minzah makes a cosmopolitan change at the heart of Tangier. Located just minutes from some of the town’s best sights and shopping, the manorial elegance of EI Minzah adds a hint of stately intrigue to the buzz of the town.

Tangier: luxury and arts

Once host to an exclusive European glitterati, it’s now a beach holiday destination. But Tangier and its environs are in the act of redefining themselves, with the development of the prestigious Marinasmir along the coast, and a smattering of exquisite hotels, such as the Hyatt at Marinasmir and Le Mirage, set on cliffs overlooking an apparently endless private beach.

Le Mirage has become the in vogue summer venue, providing a relaxed and unpretentious haven. Guest lists embrace top fashion designers such as Yves St Laurent, Spain’s past state premier Felipe Gonzalez, and a host of budding entrepreneurs and tycoons.

The atmosphere is informal, friendly and unstuffy fame without the glitz, and strictly no interviews. Guests whoever they are – all pass the time of day with each other: adults playing bat and ball on the beach, kids mingling at Hercules Caves. Its notable cuisine is served either on the terrace of the guests’ own beach bungalow or in the hotel’s restaurant with its stunning views. The welcoming atmosphere of Le Mirage is clearly down to its family owners who seem to put friendship before commerce.

If you can draw yourself away from the beautiful beach hotels such as Le Mirage and the Hyatt at Marinasmir, the Hotel EI Minzah makes a cosmopolitan change at the heart of Tangier. Located just minutes from some of the town’s best sights and shopping, the manorial elegance of EI Minzah adds a hint of stately intrigue to the buzz of the town. It also provides a refuge of creature comforts, with beautifully appointed refurbished bedrooms and suites and a health club with Jacuzzi, sauna and massage for souk-weary feet. A wine bar, traditional Moroccan restaurant and a grand dining room for more formal occasions, mean there is something for all tastes. Embroidered by its own art collections and long stay guests (in tangerine straw hats, smoking cherrots) El Minzah is the essence of Tangier, rather than divorced from it.