When I met Cindy Reedy, a DAT Fulbrighter last year in Morocco, she gave me some great advice: Every weekend, go on a toot somewhere." So when my Saturday plans fell through at the last minute, I decided that my "toot" this weekend would be to the city of Meknès. I bought a train ticket, and off I went into the mountains, through some incredibly green fields. You are going to have to take my word on this, because I can't figure out how to take a decent picture through a moving train window. Then a petit taxi took me to the Place el Hedim which is bordered by the old Medina, and the enormous Bab Mansour which led to the palace complex of the sultan. I sat at cafe on the place, drank a "panaché"-- which is a punch with various fruits and avocado-- and took in the scene, which has some kind of normal things, and also some kind of tourist attraction not so normal things: Painted tajines massed for sale- normal. Boys driving small cars. Definitely normal. Big and mini horses: Not so normal Look carefully. Those are monkeys that will sit on your shoulder. Who knows? Maybe they drive the scooter, too. Not so normal Guy with oboe-ish sounding horn, (in blue) and his buddy, with the snake (in white). Just like the movies, huh? Then I did some more serious stuff. I went into the medina and visited a museum called Dar Jamai, which was the palace of a wealthy, well-placed family. I was also able to visit a medersa, which is a Koranic school from the 1300s with amazing architecture. And finally, I decided, "Hey, this is a toot-- why not?" And took a calèche ride to see the parts of town that were beyond the former palace complex and beyond the current king's palace complex. I'll post additional pictures on a page called Meknès you can access from the drop-down menu. looking through the palace main floor out to the garden Carpeted and cushioned sitting room upstairs. Detail of carved plaster wall Also a detail of the wall deco. TELL ME THESE ARE NOT CATS!
3 Comments
Gladys Murray
3/16/2017 05:03:37 pm
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Gladys Murray
3/16/2017 05:10:43 pm
Missing you at bells. Helen and Nancy both turned two pages and then we were all confused! My one advice on being overseas is to buy some stuff. You think this is so common or everyone has this. Know it's all stuff and we all have too much of it but love looking at some things and remembering.
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Cynthia Reedy
3/16/2017 05:23:27 pm
Wow - you rock! I am so glad you "took the plunge"!
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Marcie StutzmanTeacher, Researcher, Adventurer, Explorer; Maybe crazy; Possibly too old for this Archives
October 2018
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