At the end of our 3-day tour from Marrakech to Fes and the Merzouga Desert, we arrived at Ifrane. Additionally, in this instance, plane trees have taken the place of the palm trees, and their leaves fall onto the streets.
Even though people had lived there for hundreds of years, the town of Ifrane as we know it today was built by the French when they came to colonize the area. It was a small winter sports area and a place to go climbing.
Some people called the town “Morocco’s Little Switzerland.” Not only is the building unique because of the temperature (we are 1600 meters above sea level), but also because people at the time wanted no Frenchman to feel lost there, so you can see typical roofs from different parts of France. A house with half-timbered walls and a stork on top looks more like it belongs in Alsace than in Morocco.
Fes
Idris I built Fes on the banks of the Jawhar River in 789. It is Morocco’s second-largest city. People from Andalusia who had been kicked out of Cordoba for rising against the Umayyads of Andalusia and Arab families who were not allowed to stay in Kairouan came to this city and gave it a distinct Arabic flavor.
Fes, Morocco, is an important city in Moroccan history. A lot of Arab families moved to Fes and made the city’s first area, which was called Al Qarawiyyn. Also, Andalusians who had to leave their homes found a place to live in what would become the neighborhood of Al Andalusians. The Jewish population settled in the area of Al-Mallah.
Idris’s son built a second city on the left bank of the river after his father died. This divided the city into two different places. During the time of Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, in the Almoravid period, the two parts of the city were finally joined together. This was a very important event in Fes’s past. Many people think that Yusuf Ibn Tashfin was the second father of Fes because, while he was in charge, the city grew into a military powerhouse and a hub for religious, scientific, and cultural activities.
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