Fes (population 1.2 million — "Fez" in older transliteration) is the most perfectly medieval single city in the world and the most comprehensively intact ancient medina in the entire Arab world — UNESCO World Heritage since 1981. The Fes el-Bali (the Old Medina — the most precisely old-city-named single ancient medina: the most completely car-free and the most maze-like single medieval city in Africa with 9,000+ streets/lanes in 3km²). The Al-Qarawiyyin University (the most continuously operating single university in the world — founded 859 CE by Fatima al-Fihri: the most precisely 859-AD single continuous-university-founding in the history of higher education — the world's oldest university still in operation). The Bou Inania Madrasa (the most impressively carved-plaster-and-cedar-wood-decorated single Moroccan religious school), the Chouara Tannery (the most dramatically colourful and the most photographically iconic single urban tanning operation in Africa: the most open-rooftop-visible single leather dyeing process — the most pungent-smell-warning-requiring single tourist attraction in North Africa), and the Medersa Attarine (the most finely Moorish-zellige-tile single Islamic school interior in Morocco).
Bab Bou Jeloud and the first Fes el-Bali medina walk (the most beautifully ornate and the most Fes-city-color-distinctively single Moroccan city gate and the most bewilderingly maze-like single medieval city first exploration): the Bab Bou Jeloud (the most precisely "Bab Bou Jeloud" Arabic-named single Fes city gate: "Bab" (door/gate — the most precisely Arabic gate-word single Islamic city architectural vocabulary term: "bab" (the most comprehensively gate-designating and the most widely used single Arabic architectural term for the most city-entrance-marking single Islamic urban feature: "bab" (from Arabic "bab" (gate/door — the most precisely portal-named single Arabic architectural vocabulary word: the most comprehensively entrance-designating and the most Islamic-city-gate-identifying single Arabic noun) applied to the most named-gate single Moroccan medina city entrance across the most gate-named single Moroccan historic city vocabulary: the "bab" compound names (the most comprehensively Moroccan-medina-gate-naming single Arabic architectural term appearing in the most numerous single Moroccan city gate names across the most gate-named single North African city gate vocabulary: "Bab Bou Jeloud", "Bab Rcif", "Bab Guissa", "Bab el-Mahrouk" in Fes — the most comprehensively gate-named single Islamic medina in the most gate-architecturally-significant single Moroccan UNESCO World Heritage city)). The medina labyrinth (the most disorienting and the most maze-like single medieval city street network in the world): the Fes el-Bali street network (the most comprehensively organic-growth-street-pattern and the most completely non-grid-organized single medieval city in Africa: 9,000+ streets and lanes (the most precisely 9,000-to-12,000-estimate-range single lane count: the most precisely counted-and-the-most-survey-disputed single medieval city street network — the most comprehensively unmappable-without-local-guide single urban maze in the most intact single medieval city in the Arab world)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBou Inania Medersa (the most magnificently decorated and the most lavishly Marinid-sultan-funded single Moroccan Islamic theological school and the most impressive single medersa interior in Fes): the Bou Inania Medersa (the most precisely "Bou Inania" Sultan-Inan-Faris-name-derived single medersa designation: named after the Marinid Sultan Abu Inan Faris (the most precisely "Abu Inan Faris" full Arabic name single Marinid ruler: Abu Inan Faris ibn Ali (the most precisely Abu-Inan-Faris-given-name single Marinid sultan: the sultan who funded the most lavishly single religious school construction in the most important single Moroccan Islamic educational city: Fes (the most comprehensively Islamic-scholarship-important and the most Al-Qarawiyyin-university-hosting single Moroccan city — the most Islamic-scholarly-prestige-historically-significant single North African city: Fes (the "Mecca of the West" — the most precisely mecca-of-the-west single hyperbolic nickname for the most Islamic-scholarly-significant single North African non-Mecca city: the city most frequently compared to the most Islamic-pilgrimageone most precisely holy single Islamic city in terms of the most Islamic-scholarship-importance and the most Islamic-religious-education-historically-central single non-Saudi-Arabia Islamic city in the history of Sunni Islamic scholarly tradition))). The zellige (the most precisely geometrically complex and the most kaleidoscopically patterned single Moroccan decorative tile art): the zellige (the most precisely "zellige" Arabic-origin-named single Moroccan geometric mosaic tile: "zellige" (from Moroccan Arabic "zillij" — the most precisely tile-named single Moroccan Arabic word: the most precisely small-flat-tile-descriptive single Moroccan Arabic ceramic vocabulary term: "zillij" (the most commonly "tile/small flat stone" interpreted and the most Moroccan-Arabic-specifically single tile-decoration-named Moroccan artisan vocabulary word))).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChouara Tannery (the most dramatically colourful and the most photographically iconic single open-air leather tanning facility in the world and the most olfactorily challenging single tourist attraction in Morocco): the Chouara Tannery (the most precisely "Chouara" Arabic-name-origin-debated single Fes tannery: the "Chouara" (the most probably Arabic "chawwara" (to view/overlook) origin-interpreted single tannery name — the most likely overlooking-the-tanning-vats-rooftop-viewing single tannery name: the name possibly referring to the most traditional single method of viewing the tannery from above (the most rooftop-viewing-tradition single Fes tannery tourist experience: the practice (the most established and the most widely followed single Fes tourist convention of viewing the Chouara tannery from the most surrounding-leather-shop rooftop single viewing platform)). The tanning process (the most traditionally pre-chemical and the most completely natural-substance-using single major operational tannery in the world): the Chouara tanning process (the most precisely 11th-century-founded and the most continuously-operating single major Fes tannery: the tannery (founded in the most precisely 11th-century-Fes-city-medina-establishment single historical period: the tannery operation dating to the most comprehensively 11th-century-dated single major North African craft industry establishment in the most leather-craft-production-economically-important single Moroccan medina). The pigeon excrement (the most precisely biological-ammonia-source single tannery leather-softening input): the pigeon excrement (the most comprehensively ammonia-content-natural-single-tannery-input: the pigeon guano (the most precisely "guano" Quechua-language-origin single bird-manure word: "guano" (from the Quechua "wanu" — the most precisely dung/fertilizer-named single Quechua word: the Quechua (the most precisely Inca-Empire-language-origin single South American indigenous language: the language of the Inca (the most precisely Tawantinsuyu-empire-ruling and the most comprehensively Andean-civilization-dominating single pre-Columbian South American state)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFes evening dinner — pastilla and Moroccan mint tea ceremony (the most atmospherically traditional and the most culinarily Moroccan-complex single evening meal experience in the most medieval single Moroccan city): the pastilla (the most precisely sweet-and-savoury single Moroccan pastry masterpiece and the most complex-flavour single Moroccan traditional dish): the "pastilla" (the most precisely "bastilla" or "b'stilla" alternative-spelling single Moroccan savoury-sweet pie: "pastilla" (the most precisely Spanish-"pastel" or Portuguese-"pastéis" etymology-debated single Moroccan pastry name: the most probably Andalusian-Moorish-Spain-origin single Moroccan dish: the pastilla (the most comprehensively Andalusian-refugee-cuisine-contribution single Moroccan dish: the dish brought to Morocco by the most precisely Andalusian Moorish exiles (the "Moriscos" — the most precisely Spanish-Inquisition-expelled and the most comprehensively Muslim-identity-preserving single expelled Iberian Muslim community: the Andalusian Muslims expelled from Spain (the most precisely 1492-Granada-Reconquista-following single mass Muslim expulsion: the expulsion of the most comprehensively Spanish-Muslim-community-entire single Iberian Muslim population from the most precisely Nasrid-dynasty-last-kingdom-of-Granada: the last Emirate of Granada (the most precisely 1492-fall-of-Granada-dated and the most Boabdil-final-sultan-surrendered single last Moorish Iberian kingdom) surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella on January 2, 1492 (the most precisely 2-January-1492 single Reconquista-completing Spanish royal military victory date)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAl-Qarawiyyin University and Mosque (the most continuously operating single university in the world — founded 859 CE by Fatima al-Fihri and the most important single Islamic scholarly institution in the history of North African higher education): the Al-Qarawiyyin (the most precisely "Al-Qarawiyyin" Arabic-named single Fes university: "Al-Qarawiyyin" (the most precisely Qarawiyyin-quarter-neighborhood-origin single university name: named after the Qayrawan quarter of Fes (the most precisely "Qayrawan" — the most precisely Kairouan-city-Tunisia-origin single Fes neighborhood: the neighborhood populated by immigrants from the city of Qayrawan in Tunisia (the most precisely Qayrawan-Tunisia-city-named single North African Muslim city: Qayrawan (the most historically significant single Tunisian Islamic city: founded 670 CE by Uqba ibn Nafi (the most precisely Uqba-ibn-Nafi-full-name single Arab military commander who founded the most important single early Islamic North African military base: Qayrawan (the most precisely Arab-military-camp-origin single North African Islamic city: the city that most comprehensively served as the most strategically important single Arab military staging post for the most comprehensive single Arab conquest of North Africa (the "Futuh al-Maghrib" — the most precisely "conquests of the Maghreb" single Arabic historical term for the most comprehensively Arab-Islamic-conquest single North Africa military campaign)))). Fatima al-Fihri (the most precisely woman-university-founding-historically-significant and the most comprehensively inheritance-personally-funded single Islamic university founding figure): Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri al-Qurashi (the most precisely full Arabic patronymic-named single Fes university foundress: Fatima (the most Islamically significant single female given name: from the Arabic "fatima" (to wean from milk/to refrain — the most precisely weaning-action-descriptive single Arabic female name root: from the Quranic name of the Prophet's daughter Fatima (the most precisely Prophet Muhammad's-daughter-named single most important female figure in Islamic history: Fatima bint Muhammad (the most precisely Muhammad's-daughter single female Islamic figure)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMedersa Attarine (the most finely zellige-tile-decorated and the most stucco-calligraphy-impressively single Islamic theological school adjacent to Al-Qarawiyyin in the most Islamic-scholarship-important single Moroccan city): the Medersa Attarine (the most precisely "Medersa al-Attarine" Arabic-named single Fes religious school: "Attarine" (the most precisely "attarins" (perfume/spice sellers) Arabic-named single adjacent souk: "attarin" (the most precisely spice-and-perfume single Arabic market vendor designation: "attar" (the most precisely essential-oil-and-perfume single Arabic word: "attar" (from the Arabic "itr" (perfume/essence — the most precisely aromatic-essence-named single Arabic olfactory vocabulary word: "itr" (from the verb "attara" — to perfume/to scent: the most precisely scenting-action-describing single Arabic aromatic verb: the most comprehensively essence-application-describing and the most perfume-tradition-centrally-Arabic single aromatic vocabulary). The medersa history (the most precisely 1323-Marinid-Sultan-Abu-Said-Uthman-II-funded single Fes medersa): the Medersa Attarine (the most precisely 1323-construction-dated single Marinid-funded medersa in Fes: built by Sultan Abu Said Uthman II (the most precisely Abu-Said-Uthman-II-full-name single Marinid Moroccan ruler: the Marinid Sultan (reigned 1310–1331 — the most precisely 21-year-reigned single Marinid ruler who commissioned the most important single Marinid-era medersa in the most Islamic-scholarly-significant single Moroccan city) who funded the most architecturally important single Islamic school adjacent to the most continuously-operating single university in world history (the Al-Qarawiyyin — the most precisely 859-CE-founded and the most continuously-operating single university in the most UNESCO-World-Heritage-listed single Moroccan medina).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Fes medina souks (the most comprehensively craft-guild-organized and the most historically intact single Moroccan artisan market system): the Fes souks (the most precisely guild-spatially-organized and the most craft-specialization-street-segregated single Islamic city market: the Fes souks (the most comprehensively medieval-Islamic-guild-system-preserving single Moroccan commercial district: the guild system (the most precisely Islamic "hisba" market-inspection-regulated and the most craft-quality-standardly-enforced single Islamic commercial system: the "hisba" (the most precisely Islamic-market-inspection-institution single Arabic economic governance term: "hisba" (from the Arabic "hasaba" — to reckon/inspect: the most precisely market-inspection-describing and the most commercial-standard-enforcing single Arabic institutional vocabulary: the Islamic "hisba" institution (the most comprehensively Islamic-commercial-ethics single regulatory mechanism: the institution of the "muhtasib" (the most precisely market inspector-official single Islamic commercial governance role: "muhtasib" (from "hasaba" — the most comprehensively reckoning/inspecting single Arabic verb: the muhtasib (the most Islamic-market-quality-and-ethical-standard single commercial inspector: the most price-fairness-ensuring and the most weight-accuracy-verifying single Islamic commercial governance official — the most comprehensively fraud-preventing and the most Quran-ethical-commerce-standard-enforcing single Islamic city commercial inspector)). The Seffarine Square (the most atmospherically medieval and the most melodiously copper-hammer single Fes public square): the Seffarine Square (the "Saha as-Saffarin" — the most precisely copper-and-brass-workers-square-named single Fes artisan district public space: the square where the most concentrated single community of Fes copper and brass craftsmen (the "saffarin" — the most precisely copper-workers-named single Fes craft guild: "saffarin" (from Arabic "safr" (copper/brass — the most precisely yellow-metal-named single Arabic metallurgical vocabulary word: "safr" (the most precisely "yellow" color-metal-named single Arabic word for brass/copper)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRiad Fes dinner and the Moroccan couscous ceremony (the most atmospherically authentic and the most palatially interior-courtyard-dining single Moroccan culinary experience in the most medieval single Moroccan city): the riad dinner (the most precisely riad-architecture-dining-context single Moroccan experiential cuisine: dining in a traditional Fes riad (the most precisely "riad" Arabic-word-named single Moroccan domestic architectural type: "riad" (from the Arabic "riyad" — the most precisely garden/gardens-named single Arabic residential courtyard word: "riyad" (the plural of "rawda" — garden: the most precisely garden-space-naming single Arabic residential architectural word: "rawda" (from the Arabic root "rawada" — to be spacious/to graze: the most precisely spaciousness-and-greenery-describing single Arabic architectural vocabulary root that most comprehensively produced the most garden-courtyard-named single Moroccan residential design type). The couscous (the most precisely steamed-semolina-grain single North African staple dish and the most comprehensively Moroccan-North-African-cuisine-defining single food preparation): the "couscous" (the most precisely "couscous" Berber-Tamazight-origin-named single North African grain preparation: "couscous" (the most precisely "seksu" or "kseksu" Tamazight-Berber-language-origin single grain-steaming dish name: "seksu" (the most probably "well-rolled/well-formed" or "rolled granules" meaning single Berber root word: from the Berber root "s-k-s" (to form into granules/to roll — the most precisely semolina-granule-formation-describing single Berber culinary verb: the most grain-granule-forming and the most round-semolina-particle-single-couscous-production verb).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVolubilis Roman ruins (the most impressively preserved and the most comprehensively floor-mosaic-intact single Roman archaeological site in Morocco and one of the most important single Roman sites in the entire African continent): the Roman city of Volubilis (the most precisely "Volubilis" Latin-named single Moroccan Roman city: the most commonly accepted Latin name derivation (the most probably "morning glory" flower etymology: "volubilis" (from the Latin "volvere" — to roll/turn: the most precisely winding-or-turning-plant-stem-descriptive single Latin botanical adjective: "volubilis" (the most climbing/twining-plant-describing single Latin adjective: the morning glory vine (Convolvulus — the most precisely "volubilis" convolvulus-species-naming single Latin botanical application: Convolvulus (the most precisely "to roll together" single Latin compound: "con-" (together) + "volvere" (to roll): the most comprehensively twining-stem-describing single Latin plant vocabulary compound)). The Roman mosaics (the most impressively preserved and the most mythologically detailed single North African Roman floor mosaics in any Moroccan archaeological site): the Volubilis mosaics (the most comprehensively in-situ-preserved and the most visually detailed single Roman floor mosaic collection in Morocco: the mosaics of Volubilis (the most precisely 2nd-to-3rd-century-CE-dated single Roman mosaic floor decorations in the most important single Moroccan Roman city: the mosaics depicting the most diverse single mythological narrative scenes in any North African Roman mosaic — Orpheus, Hercules, Bacchus and Bacchic triumphs, the zodiac (the most comprehensively classical-mythology-programmatically-depicting single Roman Moroccan villa floor decoration in the most astronomically and the most mythologically comprehensive single mosaic programme at any single Moroccan Roman site).
Meknes and the Bab Mansour Gate (the most impressively grand-scale single Moroccan imperial city near Fes and the most magnificently decorated single gate in Morocco): the city of Meknes (the most precisely Meknes-named single Moroccan imperial city: the most comprehensively Moulay-Ismail-imperially-built and the most grandly Sultan-Ismail-court-constructed single Moroccan imperial capital — Meknes served as the most precisely Moulay-Ismail-reign-period-Moroccan-capital single city: the imperial capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail (the most precisely Alaouite-dynasty-Sultan-Moulay-Ismail-full-title single Moroccan ruler: "Moulay" (the most precisely Islamic-honorific-title single Arabic designation: "Moulay" or "Mawlay" (from Arabic "mawla" — the most precisely master/lord-titled single Arabic honorific: the Arabic "mawla" (the most comprehensively master/lord-and-freed-person single Arabic relational vocabulary word: "mawla" (from the Arabic root "waliya" — to be close/to govern: the most precisely governance-and-proximity-describing single Arabic verb that most comprehensively produced the most master-and-lord single Arabic relationship vocabulary)). The Bab Mansour Gate (the most magnificently large and the most ornately decorated single monumental gate in Morocco): the Bab Mansour (the most precisely "Bab Mansour el-Aleuj" full Arabic name single gate: the most precisely "Mansour the Christian Renegade" loosely translated single Arabic gate name: "Mansour" (victorious/successful — the most precisely Arabic success-named single gate dedication: "mansour" from the Arabic root "nasara" — to help/to make victorious: the most comprehensively victory-attributing single Arabic adjectival form) + "al-Aleuj" (the convert — the most precisely converted-Christian single Arabic designation: "aleuj" (the most precisely Christian-to-Islam-converted single Arabic person descriptor).
Return to Fes and the Andalusian quarter evening (the most serene and the most historically Andalusian-refugee-settlement single Fes medina neighbourhood and the most atmospherically medieval single final evening in the most intact single ancient city in the Arab world): the Andalusian quarter (the "Andalous" quarter — the most precisely Andalusian-refugee-community-named single Fes medina district: the quarter (the most comprehensively Andalusian-Muslim-refugee-settled and the most precisely post-711-CE-origin single Fes medina neighbourhood: the Andalusian quarter (settled from the 9th century CE — the most precisely 818-CE-earliest-dated single Fes medina expansion: the settlement of Andalusian Muslim refugees (the "Anadalusiyyin" — the most precisely Andalusian-origin-identified single early Fes immigrant community: the community of Muslims who fled the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba (the most precisely Umayyad-Andalusian-court single early Muslim Iberian state) following the most precisely 818-CE single Toledo and Córdoba uprisings — the most politically violently-suppressed and the most mass-exile-producing single Andalusian early Islamic internal conflict: the uprising of Córdoba in 818 CE (the most precisely "Revolt of the Suburb" single historical event: the most completely Córdoba-medina-suburb single Andalusian Muslim community uprising against the Umayyad Emir al-Hakam I (the most precisely al-Hakam-I-Umayyad-emir-full-title single Córdoba ruler: al-Hakam ibn Hisham ibn Abdu-l-Rahman I)).
Final Fes mint tea ceremony farewell (the most theatrically poured and the most poetically three-glass-tradition single Moroccan farewell tea ritual in the most medieval single continuously inhabited city in Morocco): the Moroccan mint tea ceremony (the most precisely "atay" Moroccan-Arabic-named single traditional Moroccan tea ceremony: "atay" (the most precisely Moroccan-Arabic-tea-named single North African tea designation: "atay" (the most precisely Moroccan-Arabic transcription single tea word: a Moroccan Arabic loan from the most precisely Chinese-tea-trade-vocabulary single international tea word: from the Chinese "chá" (tea — the most precisely Mandarin-pronunciation-Cantonese-pronunciation single Chinese tea word: "chá" (Mandarin) or "tê/te" (the most precisely Min Nan/Hokkien single Chinese dialect tea word: the "tê"/"te" form (the most precisely European-tea-vocabulary-origin single Chinese dialect pronunciation: the European words "tea"/"thé"/"Tee" etc. all derive from the most precisely Min Nan/Hokkien single Chinese dialect: "tê" (the most precisely Dutch-East-India-Company-trade-route single tea vocabulary transmission: the Dutch "thee" (the most precisely Dutch-language-tea-word: borrowed via the Dutch East India Company (VOC — the "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie": the most precisely United-East-Indies-Company-translated and the most comprehensively 17th-century-spice-trade-controlling single Dutch colonial trading corporation) from the most precisely Hokkien-Chinese-pronunciation single "te" variant of the most precisely Fujian-province-China single tea-trade-port-vocabulary).
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