Bab Boujloud (The Blue Gate), Fes

The most famous gate in Morocco is also the newest. Bab Boujloud was built in 1913 — not by a sultan, not by a dynasty, but by Captain Mellier of the French colonial municipal services, who decided the old city needed a grander entrance.

The original gate stood just to the left of where the current one rises. You can still see it: smaller, angled, positioned with the defensive logic of medieval fortification — a bent entrance designed so that a battering ram could not build momentum in a straight line. It dates to the 12th century, when walls were walls and gates were military infrastructure. It is now sealed shut.

Mellier's replacement abandoned all pretense of defense. Three horseshoe arches — one large central arch flanked by two smaller ones — frame a straight passage into the heart of Fes el-Bali. The exterior, facing the modern city, is covered in cobalt blue zellige, the colour that has defined Fes since its potters first achieved that particular shade in the 14th century. The interior, facing the medina, is green — the colour of Islam, of paradise, of the faith that built the city the gate protects.

Stand outside at the right angle and you can see two minarets through the central arch. The one on the left belongs to the Sidi Lazzaz mosque, a crumbling 20th-century building usually crowned with a stork's nest. The smaller one on the right is the Bou Inania Madrasa, built in the 1350s — six centuries older than the gate framing it. This accidental composition of colonial architecture framing medieval skyline is the most photographed view in Fes.

The name Bou Jeloud predates the current gate by centuries. One theory traces it to Abu al-Junud — "Father of the Troops" — referencing military garrisons once stationed nearby. The area around the gate was not always a grand entrance; it contained stables and shops, some of which funded charitable endowments. Mellier had to negotiate the purchase and demolition of these properties before construction could begin in December 1912. The gate went up fast — completed in 1913.

There is an unsettling detail that Frommer's notes: a massive bolt on the outside of the French-built gate. During the protectorate, the medina was locked from the outside at night. The gate that was built to welcome visitors was also built to contain a population.

Today, Bab Boujloud is pure theatre. Rooftop cafés on both sides serve mint tea and tagines to tourists photographing each other against the zellige. Inside, the cobbled street splits immediately: Talaa Kebira — the big climb — angles right toward Al-Qarawiyyin. Talaa Seghira — the small climb — heads left into the medina's deeper folds. Both are lined with shops, workshops, and restaurants for as far as you can see before the alleys swallow the light.