Memo from Meknes

Our trip to Meknes started with a walk to the Hertz hire car office that was about three quarters of the way back towards the Casa Port station we'd walked from yesterday, so it wasn't too hard to find. Once the paperwork was completed we ducked off to get some breakfast before returning to take delivery of our primary mode of transport for the next 16 days.

Our drive out of Casablanca started a little awkwardly with my getting used to a right hand drive and the Moroccan traffic. It got worse when I misjudged the corner of some curbing and flattened our rear right tyre. It didn't take long to get the spare in place though, especially with the assistance of a local man who bowled up and insisted on helping. At least the rest of the four hour trip to Meknes - including a lunch stop - went without incident. Our host's emailed instructions on how to find our accommodation also served us well.

The lane outside our riad.

Simon (English) and his wife Mouna (French) who own and operate the beautifully decorated Riad Labhour, proved to be exceptional hosts. In the process of doing all the obligatory paperwork Simon recounted some history of the modern Arabic language and the multi-lingual nature or modern Morocco. He also gave us a  large map of central Meknes and annotated it with places of interest and the location of some shops we requested. He also offered to speak to his wife about places which might be able to repair our flat tyre. Then it was upstairs to our lovely room, on the same level as the lower of the two level roof-top terrace.
After a short rest we set off to start our exploration of Meknes. It was a straightforward walk up the alleyways to reach the main road and from there only a short walk to the Place Lahdim, the square opposite the famous Bab Mansour gate. The square was lined with restaurants along one side and already populated with hawkers and entertainers of various types. The crowds would later increase after sunset.

In the meantime we set off to explore the narrow alleys and market stalls of all types that comprised the medina of Meknes. Simon had indicated on our map where the various types of artisan congregated, and sure enough we found the areas which were predominantly woodworkers, metal workers and stone workers. By now it was early evening but it seemed like the crowds were still building. We eventually found ourselves in the fresh fruit section behind the southern side of the square and stocked up on some of the sweetest and juiciest peaches and grapes we'd ever tasted before heading back to the square for dinner.

We chose a restaurant whose tout had previously offered us 10 dirhams off our mains. The tagine meals were quite nice though we think the "discount" is actually pretty routinely offered by most of the restaurants along that side of the square. After dinner we checked out some of the action in the square. This included some kind of amateur boxing exhibition and a magician who refused to complete the finale of his show because not enough people had contributed money! We are not sure how happy the performing monkeys were but the snakes seemed pretty calm.

Fishing for bottles

There were also horse rides and little electric cars for the kids. There was even a carnival like game operating where you had to get a small rubber ring attached to a long fishing line around the neck of a bottle - we saw the tout do it so we know it is possible, but we didn't see anyone else manage it. While exploring on our way back to the riad we chanced upon a French patisserie which afforded a nice treat as dessert. While we sat on a step to eat them a nice local man came over to us with two chairs to sit on.

We slept well and even the call to prayer at 5:40am didn't disturb us for long. At our very delicious breakfast next morning we got talking to a British couple, Rob & Ronnie, who were holidaying here in Meknes for a week. They mentioned that yesterday afternoon they had been to tour Moulay Idriss and Volubilis late in the day - which had the triple advantage of missing the hottest part of the day, missing the bus loads of tourists swarming over Volubilis, and seeing the later afternoon sun on the Roman ruins. We had planned to visit the two places tomorrow enroute (in a round about way) to Fez. However on hearing of Rob & Ronnie's experience we decided to change plans and do our own little (afternoon) day trip later.

However the first issue was getting our flat tyre fixed - and here our hosts Simon and Mouna came through big time. After some discussion it was arranged that Mouna would drive us and our flat tyre to a tyre shop they used to get it repaired. The diagnosis was a hole in the wall of the tyre which would have been problematic to repair satisfactorily so we agreed that a new tyre was the best option. This was quickly done for the pretty reasonable price of 550 dirhams (about AU$80).

One of the gates in the wall around the Imperial City.

With that load off our minds it was time to do a bit more sightseeing. We set off to walk the circuit of the old Imperial City. This turned out to be a significant undertaking in the heat of the day and we were fairly knackered by the end of it. Along the way we saw the old horse stables - apparently once the home to 13,000 horses - and Sahrij Souani (the Royal Lake). We bypassed the Royal Golf Course since we'd neglected to pack out clubs. After we had finished the rather hot walk we called in at one of the restaurants in the square for a refreshing cold orange juice to reward ourselves.

View inside the horse stables

Another view inside the horse stables

By the time we made it back to our riad we figured we deserved a rest for an hour or so before setting out on our afternoon excursion. It only took about half an hour to reach the small town of Moulay Idriss, once an Imperial Capital and now heritage listed. The town is spread across two small hills and there is a point on one hill that offers a panoramic view of the other. It is also widely known to be pretty much impossible to find in the maze of narrow winding lanes without a local to guide you. Inevitably we ended up negotiating a fee of 50 dirhams (AU$7.30) with a chap who was keen to act as our guide.

The panoramic view in Moulay Ibliss

The climb to the panoramic view was certainly worth it, visually as well as photographically. At the end of our "tour" our guide tried to tell us that the price was supposed to be 50 dirhams each, but we refused to fall for that one.

On the descent from the panorama

The drive onwards to the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Volubilis is only a short one, though we managed to extend it by missing the turn first time around and having to double back. We fortuitously timed our arrival with the last of the tour coaches getting ready to depart, so by the time we had looked through the displays in the interpretive centre and watched the slide show there were only a handful of other people exploring the site. Plus the temperature had started to drop a little.

Remains of arches across the meeting square

And so it was that we were able to spend a leisurely hour or so walking around the site and checking our some of the amazing mosaic floors that still look quite vibrant after more than 1700 years of exposure to the elements. Not to mention things like the large Monumental Arch that still looks in better nick than most of the walls of our house!

The triumphal arch

We finished up a little over half an hour before sunset (when the site closes) which was still enough time to make it back to Meknes before sunset. For dinner we returned to the same restaurant where we'd had our orange juice break earlier - to take up the tout's offer of a discount for coming back. After a very pleasant meal we hung around in the square for a while to watch some more of the goings on. The magician was back but seemed to have drawn an even smaller crowd than last night. There was some kind of music act in progress - of which the MC at one point tried to drag Laura up to dance. Laura reckons he would never have heard the word "No!" so often in 10 seconds!

A view inside the Medersa

After another good sleep (Laura even slept through the 5:40am call to prayer) and another delicious breakfast - including another long chat with Rob & Ronnie - we set off for one last explore of Meknes. The museum we had in mind was still closed for renovations but I did manage to get some nice photos of the Medersa (an old Koranic school) and of the views from its rooftop terrace.

After a light lunch and a final farewell to our host Simon we loaded up the car and headed on down the road to Fez.