Day Three
Date: 30 April
2013
Place: Meknes - Fes
Weather: Very cool
and overcast in the morning; sunnier and
warmer in the afternoon
Accommodation: Fes Inn
This morning a local guide was assigned to our tour to take
us around the sights of Meknes. We had a
lovely time with our female guide visiting the Medina, Heries es Souani, the
Black Kings’s Mosque and tomb, the prison and a spot of shopping.
Meknes was once the capital of Morocco in the 17th
century and has a significant thick wall around the medina. Amazingly, the wall’s length is 40 kilometres
around many buildings.
After taking photos of Meknes we entered the Medina through
a wide ancient gate to visit Heir es Souani (the granary). The temperature is an even 16 degrees with
high arched rooms and 4 metre wide walls.
At the rear of Heir es Souani is the area where Moulay Ismail (the Black
Prince) kept his 12 000 Arabian horses.
Today this lovely building is used for concerts, gallery work and even
weddings.
The magnificent stables!
The Mosque holding the tomb of Moulay Ismail was only a
little way from the granary ans storehouse.
It is a small mosque with tiling, a fountain and a separate area for the
tombs of the Sultan, his first wife and sons.
Moulay Ismail had 500 wives and 800 children so a lot of the building
which he is famous for was actually to house his growing family! I think every Moroccan must have some claim
to a royal lineage after so many children!
The fountain inside the Mosque where the tomb of Moulay Ismail and his wife and son are on display.
Just down the road was the prison although little is evident
from the road as the 17thcentury prison was underground without any
toileting facilities. The prison covers
7kms of underground tunnels and is lit by holes in the ceiling which was also
the slaves only access to ventilation.
The prison has undergone extensive restoration and was opened only eight
months ago. Our guide told us that two
children on a school excursion went missing for two days before they were found
as the prison is so vast! I bet those teachers
were worried!
It was now time to see some of the local crafts and our
guide took us to see some silver smithing attributable to the area and delicate
embroidery by Franciscan nuns and Berber women.
David and I succumbed to ‘best price’ and now own a large black and
silver plate which is rather beautiful.
The shop where we bought our plate.....at a very good price! Well, that's what they said anyway!
We walked from the prison to the largest gateway in northern
Africa – Bab Mansour which was built in the 17th century. It leads into the Medina.
Bab Monsour.....biggest gate in Morocco.
It was a quick stroll through the market (Hedim Square) where
fruit, vegetables, hanging meat and colourful arrays of tiny biscuits were on
sale before we were on the bus for our lunch.
Apparently the snake charmers, story tellers and fortune tellers appear
from 4pm but we have been told we will see that in Marrakesh….here’s hoping.
Lovely biscuits....tempting but no gladwrap!
All the ingredients for a delicious tagine!
David chose Tagine de Lapin (rabbit tagine) and I chose
Tagine d’agneau (lamb tagine) for lunch…..once again delicious.
Our visit for the afternoon was en-route to Fes. An old Roman settlement at Volubilis was
established by the emperor Caligular in the 1st century and lasted
for two centuries. It is a considerably
large site which is undergoing a lot of archaeological work. Once again the great Lisbon earthquake
created considerable damage. The large
recreated gate(Caracalla – Triumph Arch) and columned basilica are very beautiful
with the backdrop of expansive plains.
The remains of the impressive basilica.
Striking a pose facing the forum.
Imagine the horse drawn chariots coming through here....
These roses were huge....at the back of a rest-stop on the way to Fes.
Beautiful scenery on the way.
Fes was two hours away so we all sat back, snoozed, took in
the lovely scenery and reflected on our very busy day. We were a raggle taggle lot by the time we
reached our hotel after 6pm.
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