Getting Started

I arrived in Casablanca just after midnight on the 5th of January and just after the airport train, that makes the 35 km trip into the city, had stopped running for the evening. Taking a cab to town, I got a room and began to sleep of the jetlag and reset my body clock. Casablanca holds very little for the visitor who has come looking to experience the traditional or cultural aspects of Morocco and has very few attractions. It is Morocco’s commercial center and seems very much like a large, modern European city.
I got out of town as soon as I felt rested and boarded a train to Meknes, one of the four imperial cities. In stark contrast to “Casa”, Meknes is a small and more relaxed city that continues to maintain a great deal of its colonial atmosphere. Most of the other travelers I’ve spoken with had not planned to include Meknes in their itineraries, preferring instead to go on to Fes. I had read, however, that Meknes could provide a more easy going introduction to the medina, and traditional Moroccan life in general, compared to the very lively and intense experience that can be found in Fes.
Volubilis is the primary reason I decided to stop and spend the night in Meknes. One of the Roman Empire’s farthest and most remote outposts, it is Morocco’s best preserved archaeological site. The Romans occupied this area just north of Meknes from about 40 to 280AD and in doing so, allowed Claudius to say he had penetrated the Atlas Mountains. The site’s points of interest include a capital, triumphant arch, baths and a basilica. It was also a key location for "The Last Temptation of Christ". What I appreciated most were the mosaics.
To Moroccans Meknes is known for one figure more than any other. The Sultan Moulay Ismail ruled from 1672 to 1727 and Meknes was the location of his imperial complex. A direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, a pedigree that the current monarchy shares, he ruled in this period that was to be Morocco’s last golden age. Building Morocco’s strongest ever army, Moulay Ismail began a military campaign that would eventually bring all of present-day Morocco under his control by pushing back the Berber tribes to the south and relieving the British and Spanish of their territories in the north. It is the building achievements of Moulay Ismail that are of interest in this small imperial city. His architectural achievements include the cities’ palaces, gardens, and stables located below the winding medina. And his palace quarters are introduced by the country’s grandest gateway, Bab el- Mansour, which is framed by huge marble columns plundered from Volubilis.
From Meknes I took a bus about an hour east to Fes…

I should have my pictures online in 24 hours at www.kodakgallery.com/douglegrand