Day 4 - All Roads Lead to Rome...and Meknes

This day turned out to be one dedicated to culture - not so much of completing miles in two wheels...but then I got to see two more UNESCO World Heritage sites that day...

After waiting for an hour for a rather bleak breakfast - again, Volubilis Inn is not a place I'd recommend to anyone, I packed my stuff and rolled down to the ancient Roman city, with ruins of ancient buildings and mosaics - this is something that is an absolute must-see! Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Arc de Triomphe

Volubilis must have been a bustling city

It took me well over an hour to discover the many mosaics of the city, some quite hidden, most of which were well preserved. Leaving the site, I saw the city of Moulay Idriss, built on a big rock.

Moulay Idriss

It did not take me long to reach the large city of Meknes around lunchtime - it was just 30 kilometers away. There were some big, dark clouds gathering in the sky and the wind was rather strong. My plan was to take a quick look at the city and then to ride onwards to Fez - yet another UNESCO World Heritage site - but plans do change at times.

Both Meknes and Fez were once royal cities, both were once Morocco's capital and both have huge, ancient medinas, full of beautiful, ornamented buildings. I planned to push my bike through the main avenue of the bustling bazar - but my progress was halted by the sight of the amazing buildings and the vivid, colorful everyday life.

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A water fountain, women at an auction, a tailor shop

Then I spotted the entrance of an even more beautiful building - it was a medresa, or an Islamic learning center built in the 14th century. First, I thought just to take a picture of the place, then I found out there was more to it - a lot. After paying a small entrance fee , I was inside the courtyard and was amazed by the wonderful details.

Amazing details...The marble water fountain on the second picture was taken from Volubilis

A lady came up to me and asked if she could tell me some of the history of this place. I gladly accepted and I started to learn a lot of details not only of the medresa, but also of Meknes and Morocco. It turned out she was the director of this institution and held a PhD in history. Her name was Kamar and she enlightened me with lots of interesting details of why the medresa was built, how it was used. There was a strict selection process - only boys at the age of ten were admitted, who were able to recite the entire Koran. They then lived in these beautiful premises - with marble water fountain, wonderful carvings - however, they had to learn day and night. Each pupil had his own undecorated bedroom - and it could only be shut from the outside, so not much room to play or chitchat. The professors had their own small entrances, they were their to serve the children and form them into sort of "super soldiers". The alumni of these institutions became the best officers of the royal court, dealing with matters of the state and cross-border politics.

Kamar then led me around the Meknes, we went through the ornamented gate in the walls surrounding the city, we visited a second institution she was the director of, this was the pavilion of the ambassadors, where the Moroccan nobility negotiated peace - or war - with the representatives of other states. She also led me to an underground chamber, wrongly called prisons, where there was a contemporary art exhibition. Meanwhile, a very strong wind blowing, I was quite glad not to have chosen to bike. Then she took me to a surprise place - it was inside a golf club, in fact, the only golf club in the world with medieval walls around it. There was a small tea house there, built by the former king Hassan II, and she showed me the traditional way of serving tea. Once the tea is cooked, it needs to be poured three times over to oxygenate the fluid, only then can it be poured for consumption.

Kamar with the marble water fountain

Ornamented gate into the old city

Pavillon of the ambassadors (with the UNESCO World Heritage Site plague behind the curtain)

The only golf court in the world surrounded by medieval walls - plus a bird in the middle

It was a great time I'd had with Kamar. To thank her for her kindness, I invited her to a traditional Moroccan dinner. It was still quite early, so we were the only guest and ordered pretty much everything on the menu - with lentil soup, tagine, chicken and various delicious salads and sides. It was a feast with for kings, or at least ambassadors 😃.

After we parted, I found a nice riad (this is a traditional Moroccan house with an interior courtyard) to stay at, I got a good bargain for quite a nice room. I took a nice stroll in the city and was amazed by the vitality of this city.

A local restaurant - not many women there, correct? There was a very distinctive smell of some substance - let us just say in Amsterdam it would be completely acceptable...

Well, as said, it was just 30 kilometers this day, here is the route.