Meknes, Volubilis

Sunday, 17 November, 2013
Meknes.  Now I feel I am indeed in Morocco.  As we go through the huge  oval gate we enter into  the world of Islam; palaces, mosques, stables. Our guide, the lovely Fatima, appears as if from 1000 and one nights. She  talks about  dynasties   with melodious names - Almoravids, Alawite, Almohads.
We get to see Dar el-Ma, the water House with its water wheel and from there are taken to the terrace, which offers a fantastic view of the  city...when it doesn't rain, and when the wind doesn't blow so such fury.  We are happier  when we go the Grainstore Stables, another creation of Moulay Ismail Sultan, to accommodate -says Fatima- some 500 horses. He also had as many concubines.
But it is the mausoleum of the Sultan where we can appreciate the beauty of the Islamic arrchitecture. Unlike the granary and water House the mausoleum is still being used as a place of worship and is in excellent condtion. We admire the doors, walk through the courtyards, look closely at the mosaics  and remember Alhambra

meknes is supposed to be a model of a city combining islamic and european architecture. Worth  a longer visit perhaps, in summer.

We then go to the market.

It rains and is very cold, so we don't really enjoy it, especially since we have to look at huge hulks of meat, fowls in the process of being...processed, etc... There are some kittens, I hope they are not food.
For lunch we all eat vegetarian.

Volubilis

This is Pompeii on a small scale. We recognise, the ruins of the temple, the mosaics, the ancient columns, the shop signs.  The mosaics are especially remarkable, there is not much of them but the fragments are clear and well kept. We are told that what we see is only a fraction of the ancient 2nd
century roman town and that excavations continue.

shop sign

the Capitol