Cross the gates of Fes el-Jdid, walk past the brass-clad doors of the royal palace on Place des Alaouites, and you arrive in the quarter that gave its name to every Jewish district in Morocco. The Fez Mellah, established in 1438, is the country's first walled Jewish quarter — and the source of the word 'mellah' itself, said to derive from the salt trade that once concentrated here.

What sets the quarter apart visually is something you can spot from the lanes: carved wooden balconies, cantilevered outward over the streets — found in no other Fes neighbourhood. The 17th-century Ibn Danan synagogue, restored between 1996 and 1999, remains the most-visited heritage site. Below the prayer hall sits the original mikveh ritual bath; above it, the roof opens onto a view of the surrounding mellah.

Only a very small Jewish community still lives in Fes today — most residents emigrated after World War II. The Lazama synagogue, the hilltop Jewish cemetery on Rue des Mérinides, and the residential streets remain. The cemetery's white tomb stones are most photogenic in morning light. Visits are best Sunday through Thursday, since Saturday closure for Shabbat keeps the synagogues sealed.