Meknes

Meknes, Morocco

1/18/2024

Recovery is today’s plan.  Yesterday I pushed just a little too hard.  I’m AOK but my body is just tired.  It was a forty mile round trip out to Volubilis, the outermost city of the Roman Empire in Africa.  Volubilis lies on a small rise above an incredibly fertile valley about twenty miles to the south of Meknes where I am staying in a beautiful Riad in the Medina.  There is no wonder why the Romans established their town here.  There is plenty of water, pitch black soil and a plethora of olive trees.  There was a temple, a forum and a triumphal arch.  There are beautiful mosaics in the few wealthy homes throughout the city.  Having seen Pompeii and Rome it becomes evident that this was a backwater town.  The palatial homes are few and and except for one or two not as luxurious.  Although, having been seriously plundered over the last 2000 years it is hard to tell just how luxurious they were.  These colonial  Romans had all the telltale accoutrements as their counterparts with pools, fountains and mosaics.  The impression left was that the wealthy tried to bring to Volubilis as much of Rome as could be copied.  The scale of the grandeur is just not there.  The Triumphal Arch is diminutive in comparison to its counterparts in and near Rome.  Volubilis was, in my opinion, a storehouse and refinery for Rome.  What I saw was small  rooms, one after another, with the same door opening.  Each door opening had a secure “hinge” of sorts.  There must has been hundreds, if not thousands of these rooms.  All with the same carved slots for some kind of secure door.  In many other ares were blocks which held some kind of wood contraption and obvious presses for either grain or certainly olive oil. Many of the blocks of stone hade grooves which must have been used as a transfer of a fluid of some sort be it water or oil.  So, in my opinion, Volubilis was an enormous storehouse for three items that fueled the Empire: olive oil, grain and wild animals sent to whet the Roman appetite for blood. I saw similar mosaics in Sicily depicting the importation of wild animals. It must have been very lucrative.  As in modern day sports there was money to be made in these sports.  I look no further than the superbowl as evidence of the money to be made in the arena.  We  do not draw as much blood but the thirst for violence has not diminished that much.  The money to be wrested from the populus is no less.

                                                                                            Triumphal Arch Volubilis

To get to Volubilis I had to fight with not just a few hills.  The way to the site was on a fairly major road that went into the mountains.  The hills were high and the road climbed in several places for miles.  Leaving Meknes was my first indicator of what I was in for.  I had noticed this hill on the bus ride in.  Gong down the slope I started talking to myself regarding what it was going to be like to return up the incline at the end of the day.  I tried not to think too much about the trip back, I knew this hill would be a serious hindrance.   I kept on going despite my trepidations.  The hills got no better throughout the day. I was right to acknowledge the final hill to Meknes.  I walked most of it.  My calculations in doing the trip up to the ruins did not fully compensate for the ruins themselves.  The walk amongst the old stones was an exercise in itself.

My stomach is not performing up to par today.  I knew this would happen in Morocco.  I have done well to avoid most obvious foods of concern.  I have had to eat and have thus suffered little inconvenience.  My solution is usually to find a “supermarché”.  They have food that is protected in plastic.  As much as I would like to be more adventurous; I hesitate. The street food in Morocco is tempting.  The open air markets are fascinating and colorful.  However, I see so much trash everywhere and other things that give me hesitation as in the bathrooms with no “papieres hygeniques”.  I m just fearful of the consequences of a bad dietary decision.  I still have two weeks to go in Morocco.  I m doing well, for now.

Morocco beat Tanzania 3 to 0 last night.

Meknes Morocco is a fascinating city.  The Medina is enormous and easy to get lost in.  I read that Meknes was not as touristic as Meknes.  I never made it to Fes due to a big rainstorm on the day i was supposed to go.  I am sure Fes would be fascinating but there was plenty to see and to wander through in old Meknes.  

Wandering through the Medinas in Morocco is never short of experiences.  From sheep heads to fine embroidery it is a never ending feast for the eyes.  Occasionally one is brought down a very dark alley only to turn a corner into brightness and a cornucopia of colors and smells.  The scent of “cat” is perpetual and everywhere.  It is mixed with the smell of a plentitude of spices and vendors cooking Kebab and Kefta.  Kefta is a mixture of ground meat.  It is heavily spiced and very tasty if you are a meat lover.  I had it a couple of times and it was very good and despite being very nervous of the outcome I had no troubles with my digestive tract.  The small stores are barely that.  Often they are closet sized and one will see people creating all manner of things in these spaces.  Most of the stalls are men sewing the complex designs of embroidery on women’s clothing.  Sometimes they have machines outside that are weaving colored threads.  Some of these shops sell only thread.  These were my favorite because of the different ways the shop keepers assemble their colorful threads.  Some of the shops are a perfect color chart with every hue of reds, greens, blues as well as silvers and gold.  There are meat shops, wood workers, metal workers, vegetable stands, mixed with electronic stores, clothing stores and old junk sellers. 

Meknes fell into disarray after its benefactor, Moulay Ismail, died.  He had turned Meknes into his personal residence.  The Bab al Mansour gate was covered up for renovation during my stay.  The door is supposed to be exquisite and I am quite positive it is.  However, there are lots of gateways with no shortage of striking beauty all over Meknes.  The palace museum was closed so I did not get a chance to see into the old palace.  I did wak around its expansive walls.  Moulay Ismail took advantage of Volubilis, twenty miles away, to embellish the palace with marble.  Moulay Ismail did not sound like a super nice guy and the rumor is that he killed on a whim.  It is also said that on hearing of his death the stones being transported up and down the hills from Volubilis were dropped and left on the spot.   I did not see any of these stones.

 

                                                           There are many cats but no rats

Leaving Meknes was bittersweet.  My riad was fantastic.  The young man who ran it was just great.  The breakfasts included with the $25 nightly fee was excellent.  He knew I loved coffee and I was never without.  It was such a filing breakfast that it lasted me the whole day.  I will miss Meknes.