If you plan a tour of Morocco you will be faced with the question of how many of the 4 “Imperial cities” (Rabat, Meknes, Fez and Marrakech) to visit. All, except Rabat, are UNESCO inscribed – which is probably about right If you have to choose, then certainly don’t miss either Marrakech or Fez! Yet Meknes is worth a couple of hours even if you are short of time and is convenient anyway for another WHS at Volubilis and a T list site at Moulay Idris. (Possibly significantly, Morocco has 4 different “Medinas” in its list but Meknes is “badged” in French and English as a “City” – I wonder why? Elsewhere the word “Medina” is used quite happily to describe an Arab “city” in its entirety including palaces, walls etc - was Morocco just getting too many “Medinas” on its list!)

Meknes was an imperial city created by Sultan Moulay Ismael which was never really completed and was then abandoned and partially destroyed by his son in favour of Marrakech. It was built in mid 17th century and has been called (inappropriately in my view) the “Versailles of Morocco” because it was approximately contemporaneous with Louis XIV and his own constructions (Moulay Ismail saw himself as superior to the French monarch and apparently suggested that Louis XIV should convert to Islam and offered to take 1 of his daughters as a wife!). Some of the palace buildings were restored and are used by the current Sultan but much remains in ruins. The walls stretch for miles and the main gate “Bab el Mansour” (photo) whose columns were taken from Volubilis is one of the architectural “highlights” – which perhaps gives you a measure of the “value scale” of what you will see. Inside the walls, the streets and souks are pleasant enough but don’t have the same sense of size and mystery as at Fez and Marrakech – one doesn’t feel “in danger” of losing oneself here!