Meknes was a dud. That isn't to say it's a bad town. Not at all! The people in Meknes were incredibly sweet. Rather, it is to say that we didn't do too much on our day there and the town didn't really sing to us either. Meknes is it's popular neighboring town's little sister. It is actually incredibly quiet and non-touristy. That's why we wanted to stop and stay there. It also use to be the capital during the time of this infamous Sultan who was a peer with Louis XIV of France. I thought, Moroccan Versailles.
No. Not Moroccan Versailles.
It was not to be. The medina felt like a covered labyrinth that we were a bit overwhelmed to dip our toes into. It was also Friday, which is mosque day here, so a lot of the shops were closed.
It does have a quiet main square that has a small amount of merchants and entertainers. One snake charmer had such a huge crowd of people around him. His snakes clearly had lots of personality. They had so much personality that when they started to slither toward the crowd, the whole crowd immediately backed up in a unison retreat.
Our riad host was really quite sweet though. We offered him a mint, and he said, thank you, now let me show you real mint. He came back down with two green colored plates and gave them to us. We thought he said, "for you. Souvenir," so we thanked him and packed them up. As we stepped out, we suddenly wondered, "wait! Did he actually give us those plates or was he just showing them to us? Is he going to tell his friends, 'I was showing these tourists my plates and then they took them?'" We obviously asked him again just to make sure they were a gift, which he confirmed.
Good thing Meknes is the closest stop to Volubilis.
No. Not Moroccan Versailles.
It was not to be. The medina felt like a covered labyrinth that we were a bit overwhelmed to dip our toes into. It was also Friday, which is mosque day here, so a lot of the shops were closed.
It does have a quiet main square that has a small amount of merchants and entertainers. One snake charmer had such a huge crowd of people around him. His snakes clearly had lots of personality. They had so much personality that when they started to slither toward the crowd, the whole crowd immediately backed up in a unison retreat.
Our riad host was really quite sweet though. We offered him a mint, and he said, thank you, now let me show you real mint. He came back down with two green colored plates and gave them to us. We thought he said, "for you. Souvenir," so we thanked him and packed them up. As we stepped out, we suddenly wondered, "wait! Did he actually give us those plates or was he just showing them to us? Is he going to tell his friends, 'I was showing these tourists my plates and then they took them?'" We obviously asked him again just to make sure they were a gift, which he confirmed.
Good thing Meknes is the closest stop to Volubilis.
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