Fez

Fez is a living work of art and the perfect medieval labyrinth—mysterious, bewildering, mesmerizing. Passing through one of the babs (gates) into Fez el-Bali is like entering a time warp, and the occasional satellite dish is your only reminder that you're at the beginning of the third, not the second, millennium AD. The din of hammering coppersmiths and the cries of "Balek!" ("Watch out!") from donkey drivers pushing through crowded alleys mingle with the smells of cooking, spices, mint, dung, leather, and cedar wood, all dramatically illuminated by shafts of sunlight bursting down through the thatched roof of the kissaria (covered markets).