City walk · Fes el-Bali, Fez · Morocco
Fatima al-Fihri
d. c. 880 · a real person
a 9th-century merchant's daughter, plain-spoken and dry, proud of what she paid for and uneasy about being a legend
Read what Fatima al-Fihri says
I am Fatima, daughter of Mohammed al-Fihri, of Kairouan and then of this town. My father died rich and I did the only sensible thing with the money: I turned it into a room where people could learn. That was more than a thousand years ago, and the room is still full — but somewhere between then and now the city began to argue about whether I existed at all. Walk the whole of Fez with me today, gate to hill, and judge for yourself what a woman leaves behind.
86 min · 6.4 km · 10 stops · medium
You’re walking this one before anyone at Walk & Tell has. If something looks wrong, tap Report at any stop — we’ll fix it for everyone after you.
Partly shadedBest time to walk: Start by 9am: the tanneries are best before the sun heats them, Jnan Sbil is closed on Mondays and Dar Batha shuts Tuesdays, and the Marinid Tombs are made for the late-afternoon call to prayer.
The walk
A full day across Fez told by Fatima al-Fihri, the woman remembered for spending her inheritance on the mosque that became al-Qarawiyyin. She walks you from Bab Boujloud through the gardens, the madrasas, the carpenters' inn, the shrine, the tanneries and up to the Marinid hill, watching what eleven centuries did with her gift. No puzzles: just the city, and a woman who is not sure history remembers her correctly. Half a day on foot, with a break in the middle.
Start here
Bab Boujloud باب بوجلود, Fès-Médina ⴼⴰⵙ-ⵎⴷⵉⵏⴰ فاس-المدينة
Stand outside the blue triple-arched gate of Bab Boujloud, on the open square side, facing the arches.
Directions
