Day 74 - 3/10/11 - Monday - Meknes- Volubilis- Meknes

In the morning we went to Volubilis, which is located about 25 kilometres north of Meknes. It was not as simple as it sounded, as we needed to find a petit taxi in order to be transferred to the grand taxi station. When the two taxi drivers seemingly made a deal of 400 Dirham for the Grand taxi to take us to the ruins we resisted, until they came back to the price we were prepared to pay... 250 Dirham. The "walkaway" utilised to good effect again.... the move is golden.

The ruins of Volubilis were Roman ruins that were built in the 2nd-3rd century A.D., the time when Christianity was starting to take hold in the Roman Empire. Although the ruins are in a rundown state, some interesting archways remain, as does a dozen or so rather impressive mosaics. In the mid 18th century the city (which once held 20,000 residents) was abandoned, after being devastated by the Lisbon earthquake of 1751. Fes was further developed up as the regional capital.

On the way back to Meknes we stopped at Moulay Idriss, a town named after a significant person in Moroccan history. He was a great grandson of Prophet Mohammed, and after being pushed out of Mecca by the Iraqi empire, came to Morocco and brought with him his faith of Islam. His mausoleum is in this town, and many locals were in there when we visited. Being non-Muslim, we were unable to enter. It was a nice little town (absolutely no tourists) however staying longer than 15 minutes to have a brief look around was not required.

Post a tasty lunch it was time to go shopping again. The markets of Meknes are much less touristy than those of Fes, with over 95% tailored toward the locals, and mostly not the sort of products a tourist would be interested in. Unless of course the tourist is badly in need of some “Abibas” clothing. Yes, the fake brands exist here in Morocco, and so does 1980's fashion statements like Adidas torsoin tracksuits.
Whilst Meknes was a contrast to Fes and Marrakesh, it wasn't particularly eye catching of itself. It was slower paced than the two bigger cities, cheaper, and probably had more cats that either Marrakesh or Fes. They were everywhere- in windowsills, under tables, begging at tables, in alleys (usually about 5 to an alley) and under parked cars.

Tomorrow it is off to Casablanca, and then back to Spain, and finally Brazil.