Fez, Morocco Real Estate: An Ancient City Gets Attention

Written by : Yemisrach Kifle in Nuwire Investor.

Many people have never heard of Fez, Morocco 's fourth largest city after Casablanca, Rabat , and Marrakesh . The medieval town attracts discerning travelers who come looking for a cultural experience found nowhere else. Most tourists revel in what they find and leave with memories of a lifetime. Some continue to be drawn to it, returning over and over, hopelessly charmed by this provocative city. Others simply stay.
"We fell in love with Fez. Walking through the narrow streets of the medina , where there are no cars but instead donkeys and foot traffic, we felt as though we had been plunged back to the fourteenth century," said Suzanna Clarke, whose book A House in Fez: Building a Life in the Ancient Heart of Morocco details her experience of buying and restoring a 300-year-old home in the ancient medina.
About Fez, Morocco

Fez is still modernizing and some conveniences are still hard to come by

Fez is located in the northern part of the country. According to 2004 census, Fez's population is about a million. The city is divided in three distinct parts. Fez el Bali is the oldest section that was founded in 789. Fez Jdid is newer and is where Morocco's, once thriving, Jewish quarter is located. Ville Nouvelle was added at the beginning of the 19th century, during the French colonial days, and is now a bustling, modern commercial center. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is home to Al-Karaouine University, which was founded in 859 and holds the title of the oldest higher institution in the world according to the Guinness World Book of Records. The population of Fez el Bali, the largest and the oldest of the three Fez sections, hovers at around 300,000 and about 30,000 of those are artisans, according to Clarke. "Everywhere people are making things in tiny workshops—from leather and ironwork to embroidery and ceramics," she said. There are no cars.  People use their own two feet or donkeys for transportation. "The city [of Fez] is designed on Islamic principles of social harmony, and each section of the city has its own school, hammam (bath-house), mosque, fountain and bakery."
Fez's 11th century sewer  and water system still works and works well, according to Suzanna. The installation of electricity and Internet has left behind unsightly wires snaking over the city’s old walls but has brought much needed modern conveniences. Even so, they fail from time to time, as people cut and take the cables for the valuable copper inside.
Read more »