We arrived late into Meknes on the train and went for a delicious meal of meat skewers seasoned and cooked to perfection, in a little place we probably would never have found or tried without Abduls advice. Then we went and did some wine tasting, or in fact it was wine drinking. Both were reds which are not my favourites these days but both very enjoyable.
Meknes door
In the morning we went and visited the old granaries. The guides out front had been warned we were arriving and were told to not accept a guide. They did not seem impressed with this at all. The good thing about this tour so far is our tour guide has generally let us do our own thing, but provided us with maps and notes on the best thing to see and then a meeting point and time. Its been a hectic schedule, but without us many of us would have skipped Rabat and maybe even Meknes!
Inside the granary
The granaries themselves were huge rooms with high ceilings. A few to look at but not sure what one of the guides out front could have told us! we then wandered outside to see the large water rectangular water store which is now a park for the youth of Morocco to sit on benches around it. Not much else I can say about it and even the picture isn’t worth posting. I have a lot of photos from today and I’m not even sure if I can post all the good ones!
Meknes street
We wandered along a street with walls on each side. On our left was the Royal Golf course but there was no way to see inside, google earth confirms it though. On our right was the Meknes medina. We continued down this walled street until we passed through a gate and came to the mausoleum of Moulay Ismael. He was one of Moroccos greatest rulers. Apparently it is unusual for non muslims to be allowed into these places. A guide out front wanted to guide us, but then said rather grumpily “No you guide said you don’t want to be led around like sheep and pay for it!”. Spot on I felt like giving him a dirham just because he acknowledged why we didn’t want him. Regardless the place is quite small and beautiful.
Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss
We then caught up with Abdul who was downing an avocado shake out the front of the medina. He took us to his favourite camel burger stall. I appreciate these favourite places, but one can’t help that there are kickbacks involved. I guess we get something in return by getting to eat in places that tourists rarely venture. We saw no other tourists in the depth of this medina. The camel burger was sensational! (Noel, I’ve even got you a photo of the camel burger guy)
Cooking Camel burgers
After lunch we boarded our minivan which is to take us through the more deserted parts of Morocco and the reason I took this tour versus a DIY job. We drove to Volubilis, an old roman site and wandered around it for an hour or so. Some things have been reconstructed due to an earthquake many years ago. The mosaic floors are quite good, some obviously more reconstructed than others but still roman sites are always good. We even visited the old Roman brothel complete with a phallus symbol.
Volubilis
We drove onto Fes and went to have a delicious home cooked meal. The entrees were a variety cooked vegetables with the crowd favourite being fried eggplant. Then we had a delicious chicken Pastia, yes if you think it looks like the word pastry or pastie you would be correct in thinking that what it was. I have the business card and they will send me the recipe 🙂
Tomorrow we explore Fes and I might go shopping for some leather goods.
Volubilis
Volubilis