Meknes, my stay

Would I be King in this King's City ?

2019-05-14

I had searched for info about the camping that obviously was in Meknes but did not find anything worthwhile. However I thought it not wise anyway to have all my stuff unguarded on a camping in such a big town. So I had made a reservation per email at a hotel. The room was oké but Hot being at the sunny side of the street. And the Moroccon breakfast was included but of that only the coffee was oké since all the rest was full of sugar. I ate most of it then there was no alternative since it was ramadan. Which means that on the streets there is nothing to have until 19h30. Only the wellknown hamburger restaurants are open during the day. I planned a trip to the medina since that area is ofcourse the most authentic to see. So I loaded my gps with several pois (points of interest) and took off. The Place Hedim is a huge square and is nice to see. In general that is, for sure not in detail ... But as usual in Morocco nothing is in an acceptable condition. All is ofcourse old but the point is that nothing is maintained. And there is not much nothing to do except making a trip in a couch 🙃. But I would like you to not consider that. Before you decide first have a look at those horses ... Their owners are sleeping in the shade while one of them spots the tourists. Their animals are in the burning sun all day and obviously of no importance to them ...

So POI1 was disappointing, next ... The biggest highlight for sure was visiting the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. It is the only mausoleum that non-moslims are allowed to visit. But it was closed for renovations, and someone told me that was the case for two years already. There is not even a small sign about this being the Mausoleum. And no information whatsoever about openinghours and non-openinghours.

POI2 was closed, next ... Then I walked into the medina and was disappointed3. Plastic caps, plastic shirts, plastic trousers, plastic socks and plastic shoes *. In Every Shop ! Nothing else, no more, no less ... * Yes, underwear is missing here, moroccon people don't talk about "body". Underwear is a highly secret product that can hardly be found in the public area. To bad then lingerie makes the world go round 😁.

I walked several hundreds of meters but found no original products and no craftmens shops. The medina in Meknes has very little to do anymore with authenticity.

POI3 is "famous" but not worthwhile, next ... Outside the medina I passed this shop which was the only one with "creative" materials. Just imagine what people will create with these cotton yarns. And there was this beautiful wallpainting. It attracts lots of attention for the riad (hotel) on which wall it is. A wall and door around the medina. Some views in another part of the old town. I can only hope this horse has managed to escape ! If I happen to find it I will hang my luggage on to it (which is only 50 kgs) and continue YesTrip with the horse along my side 💯. Then we would have a lot of Fun !!! On my way back to the hotel I passed a hamburgerrestaurant. I have no idea why they don't obey the ramadan time but they don't. And since it was still quite early (so nothing else would be opened) I ate a meal here. A typical advertisement for new appartments. Prices range from Dh 7000 to Dh 15000 per m2 (so from € 700 to € 1500 per m2). In Meknes there are a few normal sized supermarkets. There you can find a selfservice for fresh spices and pasta. I wonder how they control hygiene and final-date-to-consume here ?! Especially concerning the products far down in the compartments 🙈 🙉 🙊 ? There is also an international racing team and a stunt team that does the paintjob without having any security measures taken. Last but not least I visited the trainstation to find out if I could travel in Morocco with bicycle by train. I could not. Then I found the office of the longdistance buscompany. There I was explained it would be no problem at all to travel by bus with my OnTheRoad 4.0. The cost for the bicycle plus all luggage was a fixed Dh 50 (€ 5) regardless of the distance. And the cost for me myself would only be about € 3.33 per 100 km 😁. I had one month spent now and have cycled only 373 kms. Although that is quite oké to me since i am a slow traveller. Why Hurry 💭. However, two months and 2000 straight kms to do with my visa ...

I had to make two decisions. One was which traject to do : continue south into the mountains or cycle west to the coast. Two was whether or not to (also) take a bus. I would have to hurry because of the visa. But also the 150 kms traject to ie Rabat at the coast seemed to be very boring and was not offering campsites nor hotels.

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But there was another Problem raising : I was disappointed by Morocco and had a hard time to adapt myself to this country. I had realised on forehand that this situation could happen since my character does not meet theirs ... Now, in practice, I experienced every minute how big the gap is between "them" and me.

Besides that, and purely by accident, I was reading a blog of another bicyclist who is some three months ahead of me. That blog was full of more and more of these aspects of this country, and of many countries to the south of Morocco. Which ment I would be in an even more unwanted situation if I would continue south, and for several months ...

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To have some idea : the most southern busstop is in Dahkla. From there it is about 400 kms to Mauretania.

I had contact with a young woman at the Warmshowers 🖱️ website who would host me in a private room in her house located just south of Rabat and directly at the beach. That was an attractive idea and I decided to take a bus to Rabat to get into the more modern, civilized world since all the major cities are along the Atlantic coast.

I guessed and hoped for that life there would be at a more high standard.

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