Meknes

On Friday afternoon, I traveled to Meknes, which takes about an hour to get to by grand taxi. Luckily, our group had 12 people, so we traveled in 2 taxis. Once we arrived, we found a riad, a traditional Moroccan house or palace, which operates as a hotel. Inside, there is generally a garden or fountain and the middle has an open area or courtyard. The walls and floor were lined with beautiful tiles. We stayed in two rooms, which were relatively large and very nice.

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant. I chose camel burger, which was delicious! The meal also included green beans, rice and something very similar to hummus (in taste at least). However, this meal did not compare to camel sandwich I ate in Fes yesterday, which was my favorite meal to date! As always, we were joined by friendly (and significantly cleaner) cats. After dinner, we viewed Meknes from the balcony of the restaurant. We snapped a picture of the exchange group before leaving for the riad. I'm wearing the red hat!

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped in a cafe for coffee and tea. We watched news on the demonstrations in Egypt and discussed politics. When one of the exchange students asked Nour if a similar uprising was likely in Morocco, he noted that while some Moroccans disagree with particular policies, the king enjoys broad support. He also made a comment that I found very interesting. He said, "Democracy is a double edged sword." He noted that because nearly half of the Moroccan population is illiterate, democracy isn't necessarily an ideal form of government for his country. 

Once we got back to the riad, we watched TV and chatted for a bit. We played poker for a while, but I wasn't very good. Traveling together has definitely allowed many of us to become closer. As demonstrated by the picture below, studying abroad has taught us to become truly comfortable with each other. Nothing allows for bonding quite like sleeping in one bed with three other people!

In the morning, we ate breakfast on the roof of the riad, which was gorgeous. I loved the colors and design of the balconies. One day, I want my balcony/deck to resemble this one! :)

Breakfast consisted of croissants, baguettes, strawberry jelly, butter, coffee and milk. Joel, pictured below, found an interesting way to shave on the go..

This is the view of Meknes from the balcony of the riad.

After leaving the riad, we headed to a tomb called the Moulay Ismail Mausoleum. We wandered through a series of open air rooms and viewed a fountain in the center of a courtyard. I recently found out that this is one of only a few sanctuaries open to non-Muslims in Morocco.

After visiting the mausoleum, we headed to an underground prison for Christians. After doing some research, I learned more about the prison. During his reign, Moulay Ismail built the structure to house up to 60,000 prisoners, who were shackled to the walls. The prison was actually constructed by a Portuguese architect, whose work earned him freedom. 

We walked outside of the prison and wandered around an open arched area. We tried to take a picture with everyone behind a column, but it's a little difficult to make some of us out.

Piles of trash contained beautiful pieces of broken tile, shown below. 

The weather wasn't ideal for walking and so we decided to take horse drawn carriages back into the main part of Meknes for lunch. 

For lunch, we shared  a large chicken tajine. 

Nour offered a helping hand to Garrett, who was having trouble adjusting his hijab..

In Morocco, mint tea is poured in a very distinctive manner. The pot is held high in the air over the glass, a method I heard is supposed to cool down the tea. I haven't quite mastered this art yet and have managed to spill boiling tea on myself a couple of times...

After lunch, we walked to the roof of the restaurant and enjoyed the view! As you can tell, it was very wet and still raining. 

Before leaving, we went to one of the shops near the restaurant. Everything inside was very overpriced. However, I was quite impressed with all of the elephant figurines! :) 

We also saw a man who handled snakes in the main square. I am not a snake fan and kept my distance. Luckily, he did not see me snap this picture. If he saw anyone taking photos, he asked for compensation. According to Nour, some snake handlers put the snakes around the necks of bystanders and won't take them off until offered money to do so.

We wanted to shop, but the majority of what we found in town wasn't very exciting. One of the stores, shown below, sold an array of underwear and bras. Great place to buy my friends souvenirs, right?

I hope everyone is having a great week!