This trip to Meknes (old imperial city), Moulay Idriss (small Islamic town), and Volubilis (Roman ruins) was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
Allow me to narrate the events of the day and a half...
It started on Wednesday afternoon. We were standing around in front of the Cafeteria, talking, laughing, discussing the week, and the upcoming weekend. As I came back to the group after picking up my passport, we left. We started walking towards the front gate.
As we were walking, a girl named Patricia walked by. She asked Lacey if she was going on the equestrian trip this weekend. Lacey quickly said no, and that she wasn't going to go because she was NOT going to end up on crutches while studying abroad.
As we kept walking, we talked about all the things we left at our dorms. Good hiking shoes, first aid kits, cell phones, chap stick, all the necessary traveling things. : )
We get outside the university and are walking along the road into town. It's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, temperature is not too cold, beautiful contrast between the red roofs, the dark green trees, and the deep blue sky.
And then I walked headfirst into a pole. : (
We got into town, and our friend Amed said, "Hey, I know a shortcut to the taxi place." He's a smart guy, we just had no idea where we were going. lol So we're walking all over the place... neighborhood streets, back alleys, by the marche, it was crazy.
To our collective dismay, there were no taxis. There was one going some random place, yet there were dozens of people. And anytime a taxi pulled into the parking lot, no less than 15 people and two small children clammered around it. Fortunately, we had Amed.
There's something about having a Moroccan with you. He gets such better prices than we could. lol, the literal story is that Amed knows a guy, who knows a guy, who could take us to Meknes. But it wasn't his regular route, so it would be more, and he could take us right now.
Fair enough. We cram into a grand taxi, I take the front seat and a fellow Moroccan takes it with me, while Andrew, Lacey, Wai, and Amed take the back.
The countryside was exquisite. It's so hard to even take pictures because the sheer magnitude of it all is what gets you. Herds of sheep, strewn about. A random cow on the side of the row munching on grass with an old man chillin nearby... It is completely different than America.
The drive into Meknes was extraordinary. There's a protection wall around the 'old Medina', or the old city. The wall is no less that 15ft thick. To enter the old medina by car, you have to go through the gate of the city which is no less than 30 ft high, in the shape of the traditional Islamic Arch. lol There were little Islamic arches for the sidewalks too.
Regardless, everything built in the Moroccan style is covered in detailed tile. The gate, the water fountains, the floors, the stairs, everything.
So we arrive at Hotel Agadir which is this narrow hotel in the medina. It's got a strict 12am curfew, and they charge roughly $5 a night. And taking shower is an $1. That was one of the funnest experiences of the trip. The hotel was so narrow (it was in the medina) and there were so many stair cases that it felt like Willy Wonka.
As a matter of fact, right smack on the middle of the stair case was a door on your right, with a squatter toilet, and a bucket of water.
Although there were no space heaters, the view from the roof more than made up for this. You climb up 3 -4 winding staircases, and you arrive among clothes lines and rusting rebar, to see... to see the whole of Meknes from above. You see the mosque, you see the new city in the distance, the city lights twinkling all around. You look behind you and see the old medina. It reminded me of those models they make of "Old Jerusalem" except huge and right in front of you. Small flat roofs and sand colored buildings were everywhere!
That wasn't until late in the night. When we arrived, we set our stuff down, and wanted to walk around a bit, so we walked to the city square, next to the "Al Bab" which is essentially a 20-30ft wooden door. My roomate's friend told me it went to the old palace. Idk though.
This square is absolutely huge. At least 1.5 football fields long, and 1.5 football fields wide. It's paved with some brickwork to outline spacial dimensions in some places. When we got there, there was a large crowd of people gathered to watch something. We walked up, and saw 4 kids running around in a circle with an older man egging them on. They did some amazing things. They did cartweels and flips like it's natural, they did cartwheels in place, one of the boys stood on his hands and bent his butt so far over, it was resting on top of his head, and he was turning himself like a sprinkler. Not sure if he has a spine...
The act they did before we left was an intense one. Two of them stood on the ground, the another one jumped and the two on the ground hoisted him up. Then as a final move, the remaining boy climbed over all of them and stood on the shoulders of the boy on top, so it was a three person tall tower of kids.
We wandered through the narrow pedestrian streets flanked by tall Moroccan buildings, so it had an imposing feel to it. They sold everything from clothes, to yogurt, to candy, to medecine.
I learned that Moroccans think medicine works best when taken by sepository. Even Ibuprofen.
We found a restaurant to eat at, and that was when I was introduced to my new lover: Almond milk. The jury's still out if they actually used milk in this, but it was almondy, just a touch crunchy, deliciousness.
The next day, we woke up cold and groggy, but managed to get down the main square for some breakfast. As we continued to wake up, we realized the cafe had the feel of a sultan's tent. There was deep read and green draped on the walls, the benches were either wooden or metal, and covered in pillows. Lacey couldn't get over the mint tea. Imagine yellow tea stuffed with fresh mint. The food wasn't bad either.
Then we crammed into a taxi for Moulay Idriss which is a very islamic town, but it sits just on top of a hill next to a 'fertile valley.' Again, the expansiveness of the place is what gets you. The beauty God created is overwhelming. Just driving up to the town, you can see curvature of the hill reflected in the roofs of the town.
Moulay Idriss is a small community that has water fountains everywhere. I hope they don't get the water from the river, because the river is where they put trash and wash their clothes.
This is a picture of me and Ahmed. He goes to Al-Akhawayn with me. I think Andrew Jabaji was taking this picture. Oh, we have no idea what that door was for. We think storage, someone said it could be a bathroom, but whoever uses it must be TINY!
The pictures of Moulay Idriss tell more of a story than I could. The only detail I can add is that there are sections of the town that non-Muslims aren't permitted to go. They have signs in 3 languages just so you know.
The next leg of the journey is part of the most mindblowing for me.
If Moulay Idriss sits on one side of the fertile valley, then Volubilis sits on the other. Volubilis is a city. No other way to describe the sheer size of it. Not just any city, but a city of ruins left by the Romans. It was their regional capital, complete with baths, mansions, gates, roads, small houses, everything typical of a Roman city. We didn't even get to explore all of it, but for reasons I'll soon explain.
At the top of one hill sits a basillica. It's a building that's hard to get the scale of. Those storks nesting on the column are BIG birds. The arches of the colonade are easily 15-20 ft tall.
I read that the basillica was built around 200 AD. It's also the most preserved building on in the city.
The city is largely unexcavated. There were no fences, no guard rails. Nothing. We paid like $1.50 to get in the gate, and immediately to our left were marble Roman grave markers, etched in Latin.
I pushed my luck though, and started climbing on the Basillica to get a better picture. I was on one of the walls at the other end of the building (you can't see it here) and heard what I thought was a pool lifeguard, but no, it was a man blowing a whistle at me. lol
Other than that, and some dead batteries, it's one of the best mental vacations to take. Trying to imagine what life was like at this particular spot, over 1,800 years ago is mind blowing. Knowing that you're walking down the streets that Romans did is amazing.
Just like above, knowing that I'm touching a marble column top that was carved 1800 years ago, by hand, is astounding. Just imagine all the people that were here. The songs that filled this church.
Then the bottom fell out. Lacey was so excited about coming. As we drove up she was asking us if she was really here. If this was really happening. I was excited too, I'd been looking forward to this all WEEK, but not like Lacey. lol
She got to the top of a small hill looking down on one section of the ruins, and she kept saying "Oh my God, oh my God, am I actually here! I'm actually at Roman ruins! Look at how intact that is! I'm actually standing on a Roman road! Look at those stones!!"
She took more pictures than I did, but as I stood with Andrew Jabaji underneath the thick stone Roman gate on one side of the city, I saw our friend Ahmed crying for us in the distance.
Honestly, I was a little annoyed. Like a parent calling they're kid in for dinner. However, whatever momentary emotion I had, turned immediately to sympathy when we walked over, and we saw Lacey silently crying on the ground, holding her ankle.
From there Andrew Jababji and Ahmed picked her up, Queen of Sheba style and carried her out of the Roman Ruins. I felt so bad for her, but the only medecine I had was Tylonal PM. She didn't want it at first, but she changed her mind once we were waiting for the taxi to come back.
She was ok in the end, just a badly sprained ankle was all. She blames it mostly on her shoe choice that day. Apparantly Mary Janes aren't good for hiking. I wouldn't know.
She said she was taking pictures of a something and stepped over this foundation, and didn't see a rock on the other side. She stepped on it, and it rolled.
The bright side is that it gives us a reason to come back, better prepared at least.
So we rode home in taxis, and got Lacey some medical attention on campus. She'll be fine in 1-2 weeks. She's already off of crutches though, so the pain was only for a short while.
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Words for further story-telling. just ask me:
-Creepy man near roof
-Unguided tour, please!!
-Dead goat?!
-Boy being chased by dog.
-Horse being chased by woman
-Pizza Hut and McDee's
-Shisha (hooka) and gender inequality
-Fistfight (some else's story, but still good)
-People eavesdropping on your conversation because its in English (All. The. Time)
