When my daughter was little, I used to pop her into the again of an previous Renault 4 and drive throughout Morocco each summer season.
We began in Tangier on the Med, drove to Guelmim within the south, visited Ouzzazate within the desert and stopped in Marrakesh.
However the place that intrigued us most was mysterious Fes, with its religious previous, it’s dusty current and — at the moment — unsure future.
Mecca of the West: The medieval minarets of Fes. Town is now a Unesco heritage web site
A berber in conventional garb sells water
Invited again there just lately, I may hardly wait to see what had grow to be of it.
Would the myriad metallic employees, tanners, potters, cobblers, gold and silversmiths, leather-based employees and rug-makers nonetheless ply their historic crafts at the hours of darkness warrens of its medieval souk?
Would the mules of their rubber footwear nonetheless carry bales of cactus silk noiselessly alongside slim passageways? Would you continue to catch a glimpse, behind a rundown doorway, of a lush backyard teeming with operating water and birdsong?
The Sofitel Palais Jamai, the place we used to remain, butting up towards the labyrinthine souk, is being refurbished, so I selected a brand new resort, Barcelo Fes Medina, which was spotlessly clear and pretty priced.
Fes is splendidly good-looking, with extensive boulevards and delightful public gardens.
My go to coincided with the annual sacred music pageant and the Jnan Sbil gardens was one of many venues. Having fun with the music underneath a mimosa tree by a decorative lake with storks flying overhead, all felt properly with the world.
The theme of the pageant was ladies achievers, and fairly proper, too, as a result of it was a girl who put town on the map within the Center Ages.
Elevated oasis: When the warmth soars in Fes, you possibly can escape to the excessive plateau at Ifrane
Fatima al-Fihri fled a violent husband in Tunisia to discovered the world’s oldest college, the Kairaouine, in Fes in 859.
Jewish philosophers and medieval popes studied the that means of life in its studying room the place students nonetheless pore over unique texts right now.
Within the 30-odd years since my final go to, Fes has grow to be a world heritage web site, with Unesco and American cash restoring the previous Jewish quarter.
They’ve paved the streets the place earlier than there was naked earth, however the folks of their robes and slippers nonetheless haggle, sip mint tea and obey the decision to prayer in its 9,400 alleyways.
Majestic: The Roman city of Volubilis is a brief hop from the centre of Fes
No, nothing a lot has modified — besides it’s simpler to get right here, with direct flights courtesy of Ryanair.
Town has been known as a residing museum, the Athens of Africa and the Mecca of the West. That’s quite a bit to stay as much as, but it surely by no means allows you to down.
Its madrasas (colleges) and palaces boast yards of blue mosaics, chiselled calligraphy and carved cedar wooden ceilings, an beautiful testomony to workmen’s artistic expertise.
Turning into an unmarked doorway off an alley not rather more than a yard extensive, I discovered myself within the restored 14th-century Palais Amani resort.
Leafy: Jnan Sbil, a royal park with a lake and palm bushes,hosts a daily music pageant
I loved a scrumptious meal in an Andalucian courtyard stuffed with daturas, oleanders and blackbirds singing their hearts out.
Fes is properly positioned for a day journey to the even older Roman city of Volubilis.
Deserted within the 4th century and almost flattened by an earthquake in 1755, sufficient stays to have the ability to marvel at Roman engineering and mosaics recalling the bed room antics of lascivious gods.
The subsequent day I went to Meknes, the imperial metropolis the place the 18th-century Sultan Moulay Ismail fathered 888 youngsters and constructed an enormous palace with the help of 150,000 slaves.
Meknes, the imperial metropolis the place Sultan Moulay Ismail apparently fathered 888 youngsters
Ifrane, a hill city set within the largest cedar forest in Africa, is the place to flee when the temperature in Fes soars.
Sipping a scorching chocolate within the glamorous Michlifen resort with its indoor pool stored at 30c and mild ski slopes a brief automobile trip away, I assumed what a beautiful place it will be to spend Christmas.
‘Sure, in fact we now have a Christmas tree,’ the hospitable supervisor informed me.
‘We don’t usually cook dinner a turkey, however we’ll do one for you.’
