Banjul Challenge – Meknes – 1/18/2023
Jan 25th, 2023 by rallyadmin
It’s only a slight drizzle when we leave after breakfast. We are headed for the fables Marrakesh but first we must get to the car which back up the cobbled street. Up isn’t actually an adequate word for the climb back to the parking area.
Because it was raining and we were a bit lost when we entered the walled city, we were concentrating more finding Casa Miguel where we were hoping to spend the night than the sheer steepness of the walkway down into the town. Now on the way back up out of the town, I think we probably should have roped up on the way down. There is nothing more embarrassing the getting killed on descent. (An old climber truism.)
The closer we get to the parking area, the steeper the walkway gets. I keep wondering how we didn’t slip on the way in. One step at a time and we’re at the cars. Man am I getting old.
The rain is letting up, we pack up the car and, with fingers, toes and any other available appendages, we try to start the car. Yahoo! It starts on the first try. That Alan Cartwright might have been on to something. The car certainly is backing up his his certainty.
Up the steep slope out of the parking area and back down the winding side streets to the main road out of town. After a few kms we stop to take a picture of the “blue” town. The whole town is now in the rain has stopped and sunlight that is breaking through the clouds.
A few more kms and we turn off for the ancient Roman city of Volubilis. Built in 219CE, it was looted and buried for centuries. When finally excavated it was once of the largest and best preserved Roman cites ever found.
We park the car and walk up to the ticket window. The entry fee is small, at least by Greek and Italian standards. And true Moroccan custom, we get our tickets, move one pace to the left, hand the ticket to another uniformed man who rips off the end of the ticket and hands the stub to the man who sold us the ticket. The Moroccans have this employment thing down.
We walk around around the site for about an hour. Lots of photos of the arches, forum, excavated mosaics and building complexes. As we head for the car to move on our way, I realize the my shoes are caked with mud. It’s been raining and the mud is sticky. So sticky that it takes me 10 minutes at the car to scrape it off before getting back in the car.
The rest of the day is a quiet and simple ride on a combination of two lane roads and autostrada. The weather continues to improve and we soen the rest of the drive under a bright north African sky. It looks like the rain is gone.
We finally get to Meknes and a hotel. A hotel with a bar, something will get more and more rare as we head south. A few beers in the bar and out for dinner for 12 (5 cars, 3 cars with 2 people and 2 with three people.)
Back to the hotel and bed. Tomorrow Marrakesh and the fabled Medina.
Obi
