Michael and Pam's Travels Our European Motorhome Adventures and other Travels

Meknรจs, Morocco ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ 2019

Date: 19th September 2019 

Travelled: 14 kms to Meknรจs by taxi

Visited: Meknรจs  

Stayed: Camping Zerhoune Bellevue โ‚ฌ9.50. The usual services. N34.01530, W05.56250ย 

Budget: xx days @ โ‚ฌxx per day

We enjoyed a good nights sleep in our campsite last night. A cool breeze was gently sweeping up the valley so we left the windows open, with the alarm on. Like a pirate, Pam sleeps with one eye open in any case.

Thereโ€™s lots of movement before 9 as the French make a run for wherever. They really are a rude bunch, but after several years of travelling through France we know thatโ€™s just how they are. By the time the owner has organised our taxi we are ready to depart for Meknรจs.


Our driver is a nice young guy, he knows everyone we pass. The seat belts are folded behind the seats, as its Godโ€™s Will that we arrive in one piece. He listens to Medina 95.1 FM which has an easy listening mix of duf-duf music and Celine Dion.

Map of Meknรจs


Our driver drops us at Bab el-Mansour, the grandest gate in the imperial city.


Each one of these guys is going to offer himself as a guide in the next few minutes. The trick is to be firm but not rude, reject them three times and they will thank you and walk away. They are just trying to make a living.

As we wander aimlessly through the Imperial City, which in reality is a series of 8 metre high walls washed in ochre, we find the tourist office. The girl seems genuinely surprised to have a customer.

Finally Heri es-Souani. Itโ€™s a long walk but our guide book has it as a highlight so here we are. This is where the King provided food and stables for his cavalryโ€™s 12,000 horses !
Like this one !

We walk along the Agdal Basin. An artificial lake the King had built near the stables.

How the other half live only a few hundred metres away.


Finally back at Bab el-Mansour (the gate), we cross the road into the Medina. These photos church it up a little. When we first entered the Medina I was reminded of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, but itโ€™s mostly just tat, lots of knock off clothing and shoes. The further in we go the narrower and more claustrophobic it becomes. Anyway we wander about generally lost for 30 minutes before deciding to try and find our way out.



Out of the Medina our thoughts turn to lunch. Our guide book recommends Restaurant Oumnia. Itโ€™s only a few hundred metres away so we set off to find it. Detailed as a family run restaurant serving simple traditional food. Oumnia is not easy to find up a narrow laneway of broken steps. We find ourselves in this house with a central room set aside for guests. As soon as we sit down he offers me a cold beer, I know I have come to the right place for lunch.


He also produces a small bottle of local Rรณse, but itโ€™s not chilled, so Pam decides on water. So we enjoy a long lunch in the cool. An old man comes out from the kitchen and he tells us he visited Australia once many years ago, staying in Canberra. I apologised, but Iโ€™m not sure he got my humour. Lunch was โ‚ฌ22.

The afternoon sun is hot, the street that was full of people as we walked down, is now empty, the shop fronts all locked. By the time we walk back up to the gate our taxi arrives to take us back to the Hymer. We do a short detour past the Carrefour for a bag of ice, making our day nicely.


Back at the campsite, another 15-16 French motorhomes have arrived. They are just as rude as the last lot.

There is no breeze as the afternoon turns to evening, itโ€™s still hot outside so we leave the air-conditioning on and watch an episode of Versailles in comfort, before bed.


Michael and Pam


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