0418 Moulay-Ismael, Meknes, and on to Fez

9^th February 2016

A hazy morning, and exploring the wonderful city of Meknes

It was quite hazy when we work up this morning – Woken by a car honking his horn around the campsite at 7.30 am – It was the local fresh bread man !  Somehow Janet woke up and got (mostly) dressed, and found some money, in time to buy a baguette and a local round loaf. Once she was back in the car, she told me a story about a surprise visitor to our tent during the night !

Apparently she had got up during the night in order to inspect the plumbing, and, half asleep, had reached for the loo paper, but instead found something soft and furry on the chair – At which point she woke up rather suddenly and went through the roof, the cat got a bit of a surprise too and somehow burst through a zip on the tent door, breaking it……….and meanwhile I slept serenely on !  So when she told me the story this morning I was stunned !  The cat had come back for more…….I will say nothing else.  But I think Janet has now learned not to feed the local wildlife and then expect them not to come back for more !!

Anyway, as said, it was quite hazy – In fact it was trying very hard to rain, so we breakfasted and packed up and after filling up our water tank, headed out.  We decided not to go back to Volubilis, the Roman ruins, because it would have taken all morning to cover the site, we would have had to get a guide as well as entrance fees, and we don’t feel we really came to Morocco to see Roman Ruins.  Just our reasoning, ‘Tis all.  So instead we headed the short distance into Meknes, which we really did want to see !

We first of all went to a camp site that was right near the Medina (Old city), hoping that we could park there safely.  Unfortunately, although the camp site was in a great spot right outside the city walls, and all the camp sites were there, it was closed up tighter than a drum and abandoned !!  Shame.  Looking at our maps we worked out that there was parking at the Bab el-Mansour.  OK – Now where is this Bab el-Mansour then ?  That took a while, between the English, Arabic, and Berber spelling of places in Meknes, but eventually we thought we had found it, and set off following the blue “where we are now” dot on our mapping system on the dashboard tablet.  We went through archways, we drove alongside endless high city walls, we drove through more arches, we passed incredible palaces and mausoleums, and suddenly saw all these parking spots.  When we stopped the usual little chap came up and told us we could park here, and yes this was the Bab el-Mansour !!  How clever are we ?  

Once parked and sorted, our little parking man said we needed a map, and he had one for us – So off we went, only to realize a few yards later the map was located in his friend’s shop just up the road, where, of course, our parking man left us (after collecting 10 dirhams for the map) and we then had to spend the next half hour being invited to buy table cloths, metal work, knives, carpets, and everything else they sell in these places !  We escaped with our wallets intact, and headed off to the Royal Gold Course, tucked away round a corner, with a big gate in to the course through the city walls. It is right in the middle of the city !    We asked the guard on the gate if we could go in, and he said, Just a little way, so in we went.  And amazing golf course with perfect greens and fairways and not a soul on it !  Apparently the King does play there occasionally, and from notices we saw that later this month there is a “Moroccan Open” or something being played there !   But an incredible sight in the middle of the old city !   Then it was round another corner and through another arch to the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. Ismail (1672 – 1727) was the Sultan who made Meknes his capital in the 17^th Century, and non Muslims are allowed in here.  The austere and peaceful courtyards are a contrast to the more lavish tomb hall, a showcase of the best of Moroccan craftsmanship,  On entering the Mausoleum, we were accosted by Omar in his brown jellaba (hooded gown) who made sure we couldn’t escape his clutches and took us around – Even through entry was free, this was going to cost me……!!

But Omar was good value, and had lots of tales to tell us about the building and the mosque and Moulay Ismail, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  As we left the mausoleum, Omar asked us if we would like to see the underground prison where in the late 1600’s Moulay Ismail kept some 40,000 mostly European Christian slaves that had been taken as prisoners when the Muslims were driven out of Spain at the time of the Inquisition.  They were used in the construction of the Imperial City.  The underground chambers originally ran for over 7 km. That was quite a prison -  long, very high arched ceilings, and no light from above (the ceiling windows were only added later by the French) , it certainly wouldn’t have been much fun down there, especially in the heat of the summer.

After our session with Omar,  we managed to escape from his clutches as he offered to take us to more and more places, and we set off through another archway through a city wall, and then through two more archways in another wall and on the other side of that we found the big square of Place El Hedim, with the grand Bab Mansour gate at its southern end. Completed in 1732, this is the crowning jewel in Moulay Ismail’s architectural legacy, intricately decorated with richly coloured tiles and marking the entrance to the vast precincts of the imperial court. 

The Place El Hedim was originally used for royal announcements and public executions, but now is a place for kids to play, hawkers to sell their wares, or to sit at a restaurant and watch the world go by.  There is also a really good covered produce market to the side which we explored.  We also went off into the narrow lanes of the souqs on the north side of the square, after which we stopped for some lunch in one of the restaurants on the square.  We then wandered back through the various arches to where we had parked the car, shared some dates with the local policemen, and then headed off to find Moulay Ismail’s immense granaries and stables at Heri es-Souani.

Ismail had over 12,000 horses stabled here, and there was also grain storage for feeding them.  Tiny windows, massive walls, and a system of underfloor water channels kept the temperature cool and the air circulating. The roof fell in long ago, but the first few vaults have been restored. An enormous stone lined lake, the Agdal Basin, lies just below the granary and it was fed by a complex system of water channels some 25 km long, and served as both a reservoir for the Sultan’s Gardens and a pleasure lake. 

After we left the granary we drove around the lake, and then headed out of town past the main entrance of the Royal Palace, and off on the road to Fes.  It is only about 60 kms so we took the Autoroute, and crossed the fertile land between Meknes and Fes, with all sorts of things being grown in the fields.  It was well after 5 pm by the time we arrived in Fes, and fortunately there was a good camp site on the road just south of town, and easy to get to.  While setting up camp a guy came round and he was offering tours into Fes, ad while listening to him we decided that for once this would be the best option – Fes is a big and busy city, and the Medina is one of the biggest old arab souk type cities anywhere in the world, and not easy to find out where to go in there or what to do.  So we agreed to set off on a tour in the morning, and after having our supper and chatting to a few of the people in the camp site, we turned in.

Photos are here - At last !  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0418MoulayIsmaelMeknesAndFez?authkey=Gv1sRgCLaByYqysovvDw