Meknes

A view of Volubilis
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It was only an hour on the train to get from Fes to Meknes. Realising we must be nearly there, we assembled our backpacks and made our way to one of the train doors, which was helpfully opened for us by another passenger about ten minutes prior to the train stopping. Luckily we managed not to fall out of the train and arrived safely at the station.

We stayed in the Ville Nouvelle (French built part of the city) in Meknes, which was very different from staying in the Medinas as we had done so far. On the first night we went to a pizza restaurant to give Vicky a bit of a break from the potatoes and carrots stewed in meat fat (tagine des légumes) which kept appearing as the vegetarian meal in Moroccan restaurants. This was the first time we had seen anywhere selling alcohol and it seemed to attract Moroccan businessmen who were drinking plenty of wine and not eating very much. We felt very self-righteous as we looked on whilst drinking our mint tea.

How very French!

Another view...
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The next day we got a 'grand taxi', apparently designed for 6 people but comfortable for 2, to the Roman ruins of Volubilis and the pilgramage town of Moulay Idris. Unfortunately, the weather didn't oblige us with the stunning sunset over Volubilis which we had read about but it was still a great place to wander about for the afternoon.