Meknes and Volubilis

Meknes is the imperial city everyone skips, and that makes it the most pleasant one. Sultan Moulay Ismail made it his capital in the late seventeenth century, with forty kilometers of walls, stables for twelve thousand horses and the gate of Bab Mansour. Then power moved to Fes and Rabat, and Meknes was left behind as a quiet provincial town with a medina where you can simply walk around. Half an hour's drive away is Volubilis, a Roman town in open fields, with mosaics still lying where they were laid.

Meknes

Bab Mansour is the reason to come to Meknes. It is a monumental gate from 1732, covered in green zellige and with marble columns taken from Volubilis. You look at it from Place el-Hedim, the square across from it. In the evening the food stalls open there as they do on Jemaa el-Fna, but without the crowds.

Behind the gate lies the imperial city of Moulay Ismail. Here you find his mausoleum, which is open to everyone and has a quiet courtyard, and the enormous granaries and stables of Heri es-Souani, with their vaults and the Agdal basin next to them. The scale is hard to grasp; this was built to feed an army.

The medina of Meknes is small, and people simply live and work there. The Bou Inania Madrasa (yes, the same name as the one in Fes) has a roof you are allowed onto, with a view over the green roofs of the city. At the market by Place el-Hedim you buy olives in twenty varieties. The area around Meknes grows olives and wine grapes.

Volubilis

Volubilis lies on a slope among wheat fields, with a view of the Rif hills. In the third century it was a Roman town of twenty thousand people, and little has been built over it since. You walk along the decumanus maximus, the main street, past the triumphal arch of Caracalla, the basilica and the remains of villas whose floors are still intact. There you find mosaics of Orpheus, Bacchus and the labors of Hercules, right out in the open air. Storks nest on the columns.

Hire a local guide at the entrance. Without explanation it is a field of stones; with it, it is a city. Allow an hour and a half. In spring the fields are full of poppies.

On the hill next to it is Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, the small town around the tomb of the founder of the first Moroccan dynasty. It is a place of pilgrimage. Non-Muslims may now enter the alleys, but not the mausoleum. The view from the terraces at the top is worth the climb.

As a woman in Meknes, Volubilis and Moulay Idriss

Meknes and Volubilis are calm. In the medina of Meknes nobody approaches you; there are hardly any tourists and so no vendors waiting for you either. Volubilis is an open site with other visitors and guides, where there is nothing you need to watch out for. In Moulay Idriss covered clothing really is necessary: long sleeves and a long skirt or pants. The guides on what to wear and language and etiquette go into more detail.

Travel times and planning the day

Meknes is a five-hour drive from Marrakesh, an hour from Fes and two and a half hours from Rabat. Volubilis is half an hour north of Meknes. Set aside half a day for Meknes, an hour and a half for Volubilis and an hour for Moulay Idriss. Together that makes a full day, which you usually combine with the drive from Rabat to Fes.

The best months are March through June and September through November. In summer Volubilis is scorching and there is no shade; go early then. Bring a cap or scarf, sunscreen, water and good shoes for the uneven stones of Volubilis. The rest is on the packing list.

The day between Rabat and Fes

On the imperial cities tour this is the day between Rabat and Fes: Meknes in the morning, Volubilis and Moulay Idriss in the afternoon, arrival in Fes in the evening. Soukayna drives, arranges the guide at Volubilis and knows where to eat well in Meknes without a tourist menu. If you would rather spend the night in Meknes than in Fes, because it is quieter, that is possible too.