Transatlantique Hotel Meknes

Arrivee et recherche au depart de l'auberge de jeunesse, environ 1 bonne heure...en fait, c'etait complet...bon, on decide d'aller au camping, une vraie maison de fou, on demande au moins a 10 personnes, tu vois les 3 petites portes a main gauche et ensuite les deux petites portes a ;ain droite, c'est la, tu peux pas te tromper!! resultat, on a tourne ...

... a mother and her son, Fatima and Saad. The son was trying to practice his English with me. He asked where I was from so I gave him a New York City postcard (I tell everyone I'm from New York City just to make it easy). I spent the next three hours trying to make small talk with the two, neither one spoke much English. They helped me find the station I needed to get off at as it was the same ...

... company might have mistaken us for golfers, as we were led to what seemed to be a golf cart instead of a car. Realizing our limited options, into the Toyota Yaris and off into the rain we went. It didn't take long to also realize that Moroccans can be a bit - casual - in their approach to giving directions (more of the "it's over the hill and past ...

... for the town. Our guide pointed out a vomitorium, said to be used when they imbibed in too much wine, which I must admit I had not heard of before despite visiting many previous Roman sites, and many in our group doubted that was its use. However, Ben, who has studied Roman history, informed me that it was common to have such an area to go to and purge when feasts were being enjoyed, in order to allow ongoing consumption. Charming!! Maybe not so civilised after all?

... a long day, meet Alison at the Boujloud Gate (the main entry into the old city, the medina) and thankfully she has done some research with the help of a local and takes me to see a couple of riads, and within a short time I am ensconced in my room and savouring being in a completely new and exciting environment. Fes (fourth largest city in Morocco, population of nearly 1 million) is the oldest of the imperial cities (the others are Marrakech, Meknes and Rabat), and is the most important ...

... a Lonely Planet walking tour of the souqs which began and ended in Place el-Hadim and took us through a number of babs (gates) in and out of the old city. We meandered through narrow thoroughfares deep in the Medina where only the locals shopped and ate ...

... J'ai envie de proposer au "cercle de lecture révolutionnaire de la SOGECOM", ou un autre, des textes sur le postcommunisme, tiens. A commencer par Negri, que je bouffe comme un gros sucre à la crème tellement c'est bon, à la chandelle la nuit dans mon hôtel qui fuit. Parce qu'il faudra bien s'en sortir un jour, de nos idées de 1920, analyser l'évolution des techniques, et du peuple qui manque dans nos réunions de cuisine. Je pars demain. Je suis déjà là-bas, si vous saviez ! Sleama, Mig.

... and get a feel for the fourth of the Moroccan imperial cities. Our early Sunday morning visit, though, was a bit anti-climatic after the enormous medina and packed souks of Fez. On the contrary, I wandered the medina's deserted streets nearly alone, noticed only by the stray cats, the doors to the homes, shops, and mosques all still closed and the market squares eerily empty.

... him and the assembled crowd. Meknes has a nice Imperial Gate which is about as impressive as you would expect - not more or less so, just about the expected amount. It has the odd local museum which is also everything you would expect from a place with a $1.40 entrance fee where the local cat was trying to get a frog to jump around by batting it around with its paw. But even the frog's expression was a palpable 'Cut that out - its too damn hot for ...

... a way to de-stink them...)and then retreated to our lovely Tiwaline to drink wine on the rooftop terrace, before having a very luxurious sleep! Next morning we were up at 6.30am, breakkie at 7am and then heading off in our land rover by 8.30am. Our driver was a man of few words, and as we wound our way up into the Atlas mountains, the only things he said were "photo?" and "lunch here". We drove and drove and drove, passing by kasbahs, Berber villages and some quite dramatic vistas ...