Fes, Meknes and the road less travelled
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For the traveller who has already developed a taste for Morocco and wants to know what’s out there beyond Marrakech and the resorts, Fes, Meknes and the magnificent ancient cities around them make an intriguing destination.
Direct flights are tempting weekenders to Fes alone, but many of those who have been seduced by the laidback atmosphere and French polish of Marrakech will find this medieval city a tad austere by comparison.
However, add in the fascinating, barely-travelled city of Meknes, the Roman ruins of Volubils and the lovely hillside town of Sefrou with its extensive ancient Jewish quarter, and you have an unforgettable long weekend packed with cultural riches.
Fes
The jewel in the crown of Fes itself is Fes el-Bali, the ancient city of 10,000 alleys and hidden souks for which a guided visit is absolutely essential. Highlights include the Belghazi Museum, with its exquisite carpets, weapons, wedding chests and jewellery, and the tanneries, a highly colourful, if niffy introduction to the Moroccan leather-making art, complete with handbag factories. In fact the city, considered the country’s prime showcase for Moroccan arts and crafts, is a good shopping bet all round.
A perfect counterpoint to the fascinating but claustrophobic old city is the Riad de la Maison Bleue, one of several boutique hotels in a highly traditional setting springing up on the edge of the walls. The Riad, which has exquisite rooms and an excellent rooftop hammam, is a chic outpost of a more traditional hotel by the same name with a superb restaurant whose food and traditional music are not to be missed.
Before leaving the city, a visit to the old Glaoui palace is de rigueur, and Abdou, an artist and musician who was born in the house and is the sole resident of this magnificent near-ruin, is a sight in himself. The Glaouis are a dying-out tribe of now-disgraced aristocrats, thanks to perceived disloyalty to the independent kingdom of Morocco, but their decaying homes, so richly encrusted with fine tiling, are always worth a look, and for us Abdou’s home was a city highlight.
Roman ruins of Volubilis
While Fes generally is a hive of medieval magnificence, it’s positively a new town beside Volubilis, the Roman capital of 1st century Mauritania which is now a World Heritage Site. Prosperity in the olive oil trade kept the city alive till the 18th century, when its marble and stone were plundered for palaces by the then ruler of Morocco, Moulay Ismail - today it remains one of the most spectacular ruined Roman cities in the world.
Volubilis is a must-see, but it would be as well to avoid trekking round the shadeless site in a hot afternoon. Leave Fes at the crack of dawn, tramp the ruins in the morning, then cool off with lunch at the delightful little on-site Fleurie restaurant.
Meknes
It’s not too far from here to Meknes, which although far less developed for tourism than Fes, is in some ways more appealing.
Start with a coffee in the huge, magnificent plaza separating the old town from the ancient imperial city, gazing at the Bab Mansour, a splendid monumental gate which encloses the latter, built by 50,000 Berber and European slaves in the 17th century under the tyrannical Moulay Ismail.
Tyrant or not, he created a city of breathtaking beauty, of which the highlight is the Dar el Ma, a massive, vaulted granary with a magnificent acqueducted garden not to be missed. With architecture like this, it’s no wonder comparisons are made with Versailles, though the Sultan started building Meknes 10 years before he first heard about the French palace similarly built on the blood, sweat and tears of serfs.
Although its monuments are some of the finest in Morocco, Meknes remains a lively, lived-in city with friendly inhabitants; the waiter at the Zitouna restaurant, where we ate excellent Moroccan food in solitary splendour, insisted on acting as our guide the next morning - without him, we would have had little appreciation of the Imperial splendours, as our driver was not from Meknes, and it would be vital to seek out a local guide in order to fully explore this city’s largely hidden treasures.
Sefrou
After the claustrophobic bustle of Fes, the dead glories of Volubilis and the magnificence of Meknes, the pretty, slow-moving hill town of Sefrou makes a fitting climax to this whistle-stop tour of central Morocco. This cherry-orchard centre was converted to Judaism by missionaries in the 1st century, and despite later Islamic conversions, the Jewish population survived and thrived.
Sefrou has a tranquil atmosphere and a lively-looking medina - one place it would have been attractive to linger. If Fes is a little over-hyped, a tailor-made package based on not just the city but the many fascinating sites around it is to be highly recommended, for Meknes, Volubilis and Sefrou are understated jewels it would be good to discover ahead of the inevitable 21st century tourist rush.
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