Meknes, Morocco

We took a train into Meknes to spend the day, it was a short trip and very pleasant. Looking out the train window you would think you were in Greece or even Turkey, as the scenery was so similar. A man on the train gave us his phone number and told us to visit him but he reeked of alcohol so we decided not to bother. It is certainly most unusual to see anyone drunk and he would only be the second person we have seen in Morocco obviously under the influence.

The streets in the new town were very attractive with trees along each side and the parks were green and well kept. We saw a lot more beggars here on the streets than we have seen anywhere else. Maybe they are deliberately kept away from the tourist areas.

One of the main gates to the old city.

We walked around here but it was not as interesting as Marrakech or Fes and in the middle of the day it was unbearbly hot. We have taken a long time to recover from the coughs we got in St-Louis so it was good to be able to walk long distances without tiring.

Near Meknes is an old Roman ruin but we decided not to bother visiting it as we had seen so many in Italy and some of the Middle Eastern countries.

We did however end up having a milkshake in a McDonald's and enjoying the air conditioned atmosphere. Meknes has nothing like the hassles you get in Fes so it was fun to stroll and look at the souk without being told to 'just look, it's free'.