8 September 2014
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| On the road again |
Ifrane was a bit of an
oddity – that piece of Europe in Morocco. Pleasant but …. I was
glad to be heading to Fes via Meknes and Volubilis, the latter
European of a sort, an ancient outlying city of the Roman epoch.
Old Meknes is an imperial
walled city.
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| Imperial palace walls and gates |
And then there’s the new city with apartments and satellite dishes!
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| Modern Meknes |
Morocco is a country of
arches, the entrance to most cities and large towns being marked by
them. And doorways (presumably of the more wealthy) are amazing,
highly decorated, both external and internal doors. Two of the best
are in Meknes, Bab Mansour and Bab er Rih.
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| Bab Mansour |
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| Bab er Rih |
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| Entrance to the mausoleum of Moulay Ismael |
The Mausoleum of Moulay
Ismail has a magnificent entrance, as befits a sultan who reigned for
55 years and transformed the city during that time. Inside there are
a number of courtyards and ante-rooms leading to the royal tombs. The
whole is lush with tiled and carved decoration.
Next it was on to a stunning
feat of engineering – the grain stores. A massive building, with
piped water underneath. Enough grain could be stored for the city for
the duration of siege or famine. A large part of the structure is now
without a roof. But what you can see is the perfect symmetry of the
arches. You can run your eyes straight down corridors or at an angle
for the depth of the building.
Outside is a storage lake
(looks more like a pool, many times the size of an Olympic one). It
was also used for leisure activities. I must say, when I saw it, I
did think I’d like the water to be filtered before I drank any of
it! The granary can be seen at the far end of the lake.
And then … lunch!! The
Moroccans make good use of their flat rooftops. Sitting, relaxing,
over lunch, we looked over an odd site. Like a square or plaza but
instead of people using the space, it was studded with “things”.
It turned out they were light and air vents for an underground
prison. Dreadful thought!
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| View at lunch |
After lunch there was a real
trip back in time. Off to the ancient Roman city of Volubilis. You
entered the site via a visitor centre, a large facility built
discreetly into the side of a hill, but not open at the time.
Helpfully, in the open undercroft there are maps of the site and some
general information. I resisted a guide. I can’t stand the haggling
over price and as I’ve seen a lot of Roman ruins before, I felt
more comfortable just going with my admittedly scant knowledge.
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| Visitor Centre |
Volubilis brought back many
memories, particularly of my visit to Tunisia. But there were also
reminders of Agrigento in Sicily, and Istanbul. There was even a
reminder of Rome – the Triumphal Arch here is very reminiscent of
the Arch of Constantine. Or some of the more modern arches, come to
that, such as the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the Brandenburg Gate
in Berlin.
And last but not least, the
mosaics and the stunning setting.
After a full day, we finally
arrived in Fes where I stayed at the most friendly, beautiful, comfortable
riad, Riad Layali Fes – a swim, followed by dinner … both just
outside the door of my suite (yes, a suite!).
Then off to the land of nod
🙂
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| Double doors to my suite, at the left. Pool at the rear, through the archways. |
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| Looking from the bed, through the sitting area, down the corridor towards the bathroom and dressing room. |
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| From the top balcony, looking down to the dining area and the pool. My suite on the left. |
