Thursday 5th March 2020

Meknes : Volubilis : Moulay Idriss : Place el-Hedim

Our breakfast was served on the roof terrace this morning.  The weather was a little cool, but okay.  A typical Moroccan breakfast was served to us – freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee, fresh baguettes, jams, honey, cheese spread and  a choice of pancakes, doughnuts or pastries.  It definitely set us up for the day!

A few minutes after we left the riad, low cloud dropped in and we should have returned to pick up thicker fleeces and waterproof jackets. Being optimistic, however, we decided to continue to the bus terminal.

The waiting buses were the most dilapidated public service vehicles that we have ever seen. Two of them had cracked windscreens.  Sheets of rusty metal replaced missing windows. The floors were rutted, pitted and raised up in places, but, the engines were running!

 

A team of young men wearing thick red fleeces and red ties directed people to the buses they required. Dave and I were the only tourists. It was just 8 degrees, the coldest it has been since we arrived in Morocco.

The seat we sat on had a piece of corrugated cardboard covering quite a sizeable hole.  A man with a tray of sticky pastries got on the bus twice while we were waiting for it to set off, trying to sell his calorie loaded pies to the passengers.  He had no takers though and we had consumed enough calories for the week at breakfast!

The passengers were mainly females, wearing an array of different coloured djellabas. They all carried goods of some kind.  Two or three had huge bags of bedding. Many had small children sat on their knees.

I was the only female on the bus with my head uncovered and I suspect we were the only non-Muslims.

The journey took about an hour to reach the small town of Moulay Idriss and the fare was just 70cents!

From Moulay Idriss we got in an equally dilapidated vehicle for the onward journey to Volubilis. The door handle in the rear had been replaced with a piece of wood.

I expected that we would have to put our feet through the floor of the taxi and run like in ‘The Flintstones’. But, as with the bus, the engine worked fine!

Oh yes, I nearly forgot to mention, the car was a Mercedes!  The ‘petite taxis’ here are pale blue and carry up to three passengers.  The larger ‘grand taxis’ are a deeper blue in colour and are permitted to take up to six paying passengers.

The archaeological site of Volubilis is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Roman site is only partially excavated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we walked around Volubilis in the cold and the drizzle; we should have gone back for our waterproofs!

The mosaics are in a marvellous condition. But unfortunately, like many others that we have seen, they are not protected from the elements.

 

 

 

 

 

The ancient city of Volubilis was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Berber tribe. It became one of the Roman Empire’s conquests in the first century AD.

Quite a few storks had made homes for their families on top of the Roman columns.

There were only a dozen or so other visitors to the site while we were there.  And when we left there were only a couple of private tour vehicles waiting.  We had been expecting taxis to be dropping off people quite regularly.

I chatted with one of the private drivers and he said that if his clients agreed, he would take us back to Moulay Idriss.

However, a few minutes later, a grand taxi arrived and the helpful private driver spoke with the driver and arranged for him to take us.

Back in Moulay Idriss, we wandered through a small market.

Dave noticed a cows head at one of the small butcher stalls.  I spotted another butchers with a tray of chicken breasts on the counter. Live chickens ran around on shelves at the back of the small outlet, a bit too fresh for my liking!

Coming across a large square lined with cafe bars, we decided to stop for a coffee.  A few mobile food stalls were just opening, their timing coinciding with children leaving school. They were mainly selling various sweet and savoury snacks but we noticed that one stall had a small variety of toys.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good place to people watch.  A couple of lads chased each other; one was pulling a cardboard box attached to a piece of string.

Many donkeys laden with goods were being led through the square. They were all wearing muzzles made from wicker; we suspected they were to prevent them from munching food from the market stalls as they passed through.

Moulay Idriss is the holiest city in Morocco.  Non-Muslims were not even permitted to visit until the early 20th century.  It was around a hundred years later before they were allowed to stay overnight. The Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss I was our next stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A direct descendent of Prophet Muhammad, Moulay Idriss brought Islam to Morocco.  A religious festival known as a moussem honouring the revered saint takes place every year.  Thousands of pilgrims flock to the city for the country’s most celebrated moussem.  It is said, that if, six times during one’s lifetime, one makes the pilgrimage to Moulay Idriss during the moussem, that it is the equivalent of the Hajj, (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca).

Guidebooks recommend visitors to be extra respectful in this holy city.

Standing for a while we admired the tiled entrance to the mausoleum with the minaret towering above. It is beautiful.

A thick piece of wood across the tiled entrance reminded non-Muslims that entrance was prohibited.

As we were standing there, a young guy told us that there was a view point that we could visit and started to walk away, indicating for us to follow.

Having read about it, it was somewhere that we intended to go to, but we preferred to go alone and anyway, we wished to stay where we were for a while longer.  So, thanking him, we declined his offer.

Lingering a while longer, I zoomed in my camera on a stork perching majestically on the holy minaret.

When we set off to the panoramic view point, the ‘wannabe guide’ walked a few steps in front of us. “No thank you, no guide” we said, and he disappeared, only to turn up in front of us again five minutes later, pointing the way.

A short while later he was replaced by an old smartly dressed guy.  At first we thought he was on his way somewhere but we soon realised that he was another unofficial guide hoping for some cash. The young guy had probably tipped him off.  He pointed out a couple of things to us and to be honest, we wouldn’t have found the view point easily without him.  It was an interesting walk through the uphill winding streets.  Locals that we passed nodded and smiled.

 

 

 

 

 

At one point we passed the cylindrical minaret, apparently the only one of its kind in Morocco. Our self appointed guide pointed out the two dates, 1939 and 1358.

One of the dates is from the Islamic calendar, otherwise referred to as the Hijri Calendar. The other is of course the Gregorian calendar.

The impressive minaret decorated with Kufic script belongs to the Sentissi Mosque. It was constructed in 1939 by a local man returning from his Hajj pilgrimage. The religious building is now a medersa.

It was well worth the climb to the view point which overlooked the green roofs of the mausoleum and the town that had built up around it.

Learning that the ‘old guy’ was just one year older than Dave, I decided to stop thinking of him as ‘the old guy’!  He led us slowly back down to the town and thanked us profusely for the cash that Dave slipped into his hand.

Deciding to head back to Meknes, we went to the taxi station.  A number of modern grand taxis were waiting. But, it was the turn of a dilapidated Mercedes and we were offered the front seat but as it was actually only one and a half seats we decided to wait.

Three young ladies were stood chatting and one of them said to us “We are waiting for a modern one too, my husband drives a grand taxi and he likes me to be safe and to always wait for a modern vehicle.”  “You speak very good English” I replied.  She smiled from ear to ear and tapped one of her friends on her shoulder saying “Listen”, she then looked at me and said “Repeat, please”.  Once more she beamed with pride as she showed off to the other young ladies, who turned out to be her colleagues.

After a few more minutes the old vehicle left and it was the turn of one of the modern taxis. The five of us got in but it then sat waiting for a sixth passenger. Remembering that one could of course pay for an extra seat, Dave gave the boss man an extra 10 MAD (1 Euro) and we were on our way.

Our fellow passengers were all teachers, and they all spoke some English. “But not as good as me!” the confident woman boasted.  She informed us that she hadn’t enough points (gained by experience), to work in a city school.  She currently teaches maths and French in a small school in Moulay Idriss.  She had married just one month earlier.

When we got out of the taxi, we said our farewells, only to chase after them a few minutes later to ask for directions to Bab Mansour.  Apparently there are different taxi stations throughout the city.  Plus, we got the bus this morning so we really had no idea where we were.

They were going in the same direction so we walked together for a while. Then spotting a McDonalds and realising it was 3.30pm we decided to satisfy our hunger pangs.  So once more we said our goodbyes to the friendly teachers.

Back at the riad, Dave read a few reviews for restaurants in the area and we decided to have a look at one of them.  The internet connection wasn’t very good but he managed to find a map.

Although I didn’t fancy the eatery when we got there, we enjoyed the walk trying to find it.  It took us through a warren of souks and then into a huge outdoor market area. It was nearing 7.30pm and the place was packed with locals shopping. One shopping street had their goods also displayed outside on stalls, making an extension of their shops and of the market. One could purchase almost anything, twinkling crystal chandeliers, bolts of material, plastic tablecloths and aprons, cosmetics, clothes, shoes.

There weren’t many tourists at all, we spotted a few accompanied by official guides, but only one or two other couples like ourselves were wandering alone. The myriad of stalls brought us to the rear of the Place el-Hedim

One of the outdoor eateries had a small fire burning, as we passed by, a waiter tossed a couple of big bones onto it!  The square was quite lively again, we saw a man leading a sheep with its lamb around the square.  Both of the poor animals were filthy and we had no idea whether he was trying to sell them or hoping to earn some cash by folk photographing them.

 

 

 

 

 

Deciding on a restaurant overlooking the busy square for our evening meal, we managed to get a table with a good view.

The waiter informed us four times throughout our meal that the service wasn’t included in the bill. After dinner we returned to our riad.

 

Previous                    Next