September 27 Meknes Morocco

Bab Monsour

A slower start to the day. No big plans.
Headed up the street towards the Bab Monsour. Wow it is not really that far when do not take the scenic route. I found the Prison de Kara, the underground prison for 30,000 prisoners, but made from the tunnels dug in the 18 th century. An amazing structure underground supported by several very large arches. At one point there was 7 km of tunnels which are now closed. Not sure 7 or 30 km, either way it is really something. Not much there but still interesting. The vents/skylights at the ground level really do make a difference for the light in the prison.

Then up the street to Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, built in 1703. This is a beautiful building with several rooms before you actually get to Ismail's tomb. Beautiful mosaics and ceilings. There are 4 tombs in the centre of the room and seem to be 4 tall grandfather clocks in each corner as well. There is no guide here so not sure.
The whole area is very quiet. I only saw 1 group.

I had lunch in the square across from the gate. Very good kabab with a salad. Great as I could also watch the people go by and the goings on in the market. Lots of pottery shops with a huge range of goods. Also in the middle was a guy with 2 monkeys. I was told there was a snake charmer here but did not see him.
Relaxed for the rest of the afternoon by the pool. Life is tough!


September 26 Meknes Morocco

I checked at hotel desk about any tour groups/company going to Volubilis but they only had an 'arrangement' with a taxi driver for 400 dirham. Seemed a bit expensive so I headed to the shared taxi stand. But as it was a tourist place no shared taxi. I ended up in a taxi for 300 dirham, the drive out, he would wait for 2 hours and drive me back. A bit of a saving. I could have saved more by taking bus but was not up to that challenge. Also on the drive out and back I noticed that all the buses were standing room only and packed!

Volubilis is a Roman ruins site about 40 or 50 km out of Meknes (it depends on what web site you look at). The drive out was very nice through a valley of farm land and olive trees.

This site was started in the 1st century AD, and occupied for 1000 years. Amazing length of time considering the Romans lost their control much earlier. This is an amazing site, 42 hectares and you can only see half of it! I ended up with a guide for about 1 1/2 hours of the 2 hours I had. He showed me several of the main places. It is well worth googling it as the pictures I took do not do the place justice. The number of intact mosaics is more than I have ever seen.

The site is something else. Orpheus, Hercules, Medusa houses, arches, main streets, ham mams, public clothes washing spot and of course a brothel! There is just too much to describe. I spent as much time as possible wandering around. I took lots of pictures of the mosaics. Another amazing thing is the entry was 10 dirham, $1.30.

I dropped backpack off at hotel and decided that I should check out the palace area. Walking for a bit and found the palace walls. There seemed to be an exterior and interior wall. I walked between.

I stopped to take a picture of one of the gates. I got stopped by the military, he wanted to see my pictures. Apparently I could not take pictures of guards so I had to delete some, but he did take me back to the gate and let me take another picture. Walked more and found a huge old building. For 10 more dirham I went in. A huge place with many many arches. They have reconstructed the roof over only about half. Turns out this is the Royal Stable. Nothing really but the arches, but still very interesting. This was next door to what looked like a parade ground. There is also a large pond near by. These are are all Royal, part of the palace complex. Very nice. I had to ask many times to get to the next place, but after 30 minutes of walking, I found it. Bab Monsour (Bab is gate) is a huge gate that is very intricately decorated. I could not go inside.

I headed back to hotel, it had been a couple of hours. Got a bit lost in the old city but ended up on the street I was on the night before. I stopped to have a coffee at a place that overlooks the main street into the medina. I ended up there for about 1 hour! I was talking to this older man about Morocco and Meknes. It was very interesting. He said there is a lot of unemployment in the city, but the unemployed are the local people. He says there is many jobs but they are being taken by people moving into the city. Sounds very familiar! His English was pretty good but he got tripped up on a few words but we figured it out. What a great way to spend some time. He said I had to make sure to see the underground prison. I will definitely check it out tomorrow. He said there was about 30 km of underground tunnels, not sure what they were used for but they were then used as a prison.

Back to hotel and spent a couple of hours by the pool. Great day. For a city that I just about passed over, I am glad I decided to stop. Lots of different things to see.