Meknes, Morocco, Day 258

Although Christi remains tired and poorly, she still wants to explore. And today we take the train to nearby Meknes, another Moroccan city with an ancient medina and square. Although founded in the 9th century, Meknes did not rise to prominence until the 17th century when the infamous Moulay Ismail became sultan of Morocco and chose Meknes as his capital. Ismail the Bloodthirsty was a warrior king and to intimidate his rivals he ordered that the city walls of Meknes be adorned with 10,000 heads of slain enemies. When not empire building, he also built elaborate palaces and monuments in Meknes, but what truly boggles the mind is that he is alleged to have fathered over 800 children. Which begs the question of how did he find the time and energy to be so productive (no pun intended).

Before embarking on an ambitious project to father a child or two of my own during our day trip to Meknes, Christi and I have a couple of chores to do, notably arranging onward transportation not only from Fes to the mysterious mountain town of Chefchaouen, but also from Morocco to Tunisia. At one point we had grand plans to travel overland through Algeria (which is contiguous with both Morocco and Tunisia), but Algeria is a difficult country to negotiate and in the end lack of time meant we had to change our plans. Christi is relieved to have one less adventure in the Sahara, but don’t worry folks there is still plenty of sand in our future. And here’s another bizarre fact, the cheapest way to fly to Tunis (capital of Tunisia) from Casablanca in Morocco is via Rome. Go figure!

With the chores out the way we visit Place el-Hadim via the beautifully carved Bab el-Mansour gate in the heart of the Meknes medina. Place el-Hadim is a sort of Djemaa el-fna without the atmosphere. We do however enjoy a tasty lamb tajine (me) and Harira soup (Christi) for lunch before we explore yet another medina. The Lonely Planet guide offers a walking tour and this seems the best way to see some of the major sites without resorting to the services of yet another retail-focussed tour guide. Apparently you can ask for a non-retail tour, but you have to pay the guide a lot more money! In truth the medinas are becoming a little stale now. We have visited so many in Morocco that it’s hard to find something new (like the tanneries of Fes). Added to which Meknes medina is much smaller than Marrakesh or Fes, so the 90 minutes we spend wandering around exhausts the points of interest: mosques, souqs (carpets, jewelry, leather goods, and spices), and food stalls. With time on our hands we pop into the Dar Jamai Museum, supposedly one of the best museums in the country. Not many of the exhibits have legends in English, but it’s still fun to look at the exquisite jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and carpets. And best of all we have the place virtually to ourselves.

Barely 5 hours after arriving in Meknes we return to Fes. In addition to feeling nauseous Christi is now craving McDonald’s (my god did I really get her pregnant in Meknes? We detour to a pharmacy where a pregnancy test proves to be negative – truly!). Amazingly (if the day could be any more amazing) Fes does have a McDonald’s and Christi rips into a cheeseburger and fries, which she says is de-licious.