Blogs from Meknes, Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco, Africa

"After breakfast we head straight to Rabat, Morocco’s capital city where we will spend the morning visiting the Oudaia Kasbah, Hassan tower, the Royal palace and Chellah. After lunch we will move on to the third of our Imperial cities, Meknes, to enjoy some free time. Overnight Meknes (Breakfast included).”... read more

Little and lasting is better than much and passing ~ Moroccan Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling south from Volubilis to Meknes. After wandering the windblown ruins of Volubilis in the late morning, we jumped into a taxi and headed to the imperial city of Meknes. We’d passed through the city the day before on our way to Moulay Idriss, but our experience had been limited to the train station. We only had a few hours to explore the city this afternoon before continuing on to Fes, so we were hoping the weather would hold out. The dark rain clouds that had been threatening at Volubilis were becoming more and more ominous… It was raining by the time we arrived. We dropped our packs in the storage room of a local hotel, jumped back into ... read more

Enough of relaxation, it’s time to move on. Today’s highlight is Volubilis, the remains of a Roman city just outside Meknes. It started life as a Berber town, expanded and developed when the Romans, under Claudius in 43AD, annexed the province of Mauretania Tingatana and made Volubilis its capital. The Romans left in around 286AD but the town continued to be occupied long after the Romans left. A lot was destroyed in the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, and it fell into disrepair when it was abandoned, but the French excavated and restored some of it and it’s now a Unesco World Heritage site. Once again, we haul our luggage through the alleys of the medina to where Hassan is waiting on the road for us. It’s very misty again, and remains so for all but ... read more

Heute war wieder Zu-Fuß-Tourist angesagt. Die Altstadt ist gleich nebenan. Wieder stellte ich fest, dass die Medina ein undurchdringliches Gewirr von Gassen ist und man manchmal nicht mehr heraus findet... Es war ärgerlich, weil alle Sachen, die ich besichtigen wollte, wegen Bauarbeiten geschlossen waren. Aber dafür sah ich Teile der Stadt, die sonst nur wenige Touristen sehen. In Marokko herrscht offiziell Gleichberechtigung der Frau. Gesetzlich. Schafe hüten ist reine Männersache, nur im Süden sah ich zweimal Frauen bei den Herden. Das waren garantiert Witwen, die einfach kein Mannsbild für diese anstrengende Arbeit auftreiben konnten. Die Männer liegen dann auf der Wiese und schauen meditativ in die Ferne. Oder es stehen drei Männer zusammen und hinter ihnen fressen fünf Schafe. Dass dies ein Knochenjob Ist, liegt auf der Hand. Und es ist rührend, dass die Frauen sich ... read more

Our decision to visit Morocco was made late. This trip is about Ireland and Greece, with a side trip to the UK to chase down a few long dead relatives and some very much alive friends. But we did need to spend at least 24 days out of the Shengen area so that we didn't overstay our 90 days in 180 visa waiver allowance – again. Where to spend that time? Why not some of it in Morocco? Morocco – and the rest of the Arab world – has always been on our agenda. I started to learn some Arabic in preparation some years ago, but that intention slipped away as the workload establishing our new home increased. Travelling through Morocco without Arabic as independent travellers – researching the country to work out which places would ... read more