Lonely Planet Morocco
Travel Report
The Marrakesh Express
The coast to the mountains
East of the Atlas
Quest for the Sahara
Todra gorge & Marrakesh
Meknes & the north
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Travel notes from Back Home in Dorset
Hi Everyone
Well I'm back home now, the adventure is over for another year.
After leaving Marrakesh on the Sunday, I took the train north to Meknes. Once I arrived in Meknes I walked around the old and new city and then I finally had enough of big cities and cried out to be in a quiet, small country town. So I abandoned doing all the touristy things in Meknes, the pollution, traffic, crowds and noise was finally too much; I'm a country boy after all, a weekend in a city is great but a week not.
So the next day I went on a day trip out of city to the Roman ruins at Volubilis, which are about 35km north of Meknes. I took a taxi to a small town near the ruins and then walked and hitched the rest of the way. It was so nice to be walking through the country again, surrounded by hills and olive groves and fresh air.
The ruins were impressive, the best in Morocco which doesn't really go in for a lot archaeological sites. The site had only last year been listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Again like the Roman ruins in Tunisia the mosaics still being in situ were the highlight for me.
After spending another night in Meknes I took the bus further north to Chefchauouan in the Rif Mountains. This is a very quite relaxing town. It has a very Spanish feel to the place as the town was founded by the Muslims who were exiled from Spain. The medina is a maze of little whitewashed houses all with pale blue doors and windows.
On Thursday it was time to start my rather protracted journey back home. I took a bus back to Casablanca, which took seven hours. On Friday morning a flight back to Tunis.
When I originally planned this trip my day and a half in Tunis was for shopping. Unfortunately, compared to the rest of North Africa and the Middle East, Tunis was very expensive, so I didn't go shopping crazy as I planned. I'll save my money for a carpet until I am next back in Damascus, as they seem to have the best deals.
So on the Sunday I flew home from Tunis via Paris and back to a rather cold Dorset.
Time to sign off for the last time from this latest adventure.
Geoff.
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