Fès Jedid, the New Fez, is a funny name for a district that is over seven hundred years old. The Marinid dynasty founded it in 1276 as a royal city beside the older medina, with its own walls, palace and mosque, and put the government and army there, leaving the old town to scholars and merchants. It remains a quieter quarter, where wide streets and gardens give relief from the crush of Fès El Bali.
The Royal Palace, Dar al-Makhzen, still serves the king and is closed to visitors, but its monumental gate is worth a visit all the same. Seven great brass doors, with enormous knockers, stand in a line before a patterned wall of green and blue tile. They are best photographed in early morning light, when the metal glows and the street is still empty. Behind them are gardens, courtyards and a palace used for official ceremonies.
The Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, lies within Fès Jedid, and it was created in the fifteenth century as a protected area for the community, close to the palace. Its houses have wooden balconies facing the street, unlike the inward-looking houses of the Muslim quarters, and there is a Jewish cemetery with whitewashed tombs and a restored synagogue, the Ibn Danan, now a museum. Many families left in the twentieth century, but the memory is kept alive.
The road system around Fès Jedid is a knot of one-way streets and roundabouts, so ride slowly and park carefully; a guarded lot is best. From here the road runs southwest to Meknes, another imperial city with huge gates and stables built by Sultan Moulay Ismail, and the countryside between is rolling olive groves and wheat. Fuel is in the new town, Ville Nouvelle, a few kilometres away. Spring is best, with green fields and mild air, and August is brutally hot, so go early and rest in the afternoon.