In Moulay Idriss

In Moulay Idriss
Star
Babak just caught himself and his girlfriend on camera, mere seconds before she swapped her identity to stealth ninja
Hid
Moulay Idriss
Round
Off the wall
Into the mausoleum
Housing

Being chased out of Saudi Arabia, Moulay Idriss, the great grandchild of Hasan, son of Ali, the cousin of the Prophet, settled in what is now Morocco, managing to convert the locals to this newfangled religion called Islam. He promptly became their leader and kicked off Muslim dominance in the region for the next 1000 years.
Starting out as what are the Roman ruins of Volubilis, he decided a more grandiose capital was in order, and had work started on Meknes, one of the country's four imperial cities, Idriss himself the founder of morocco's first royal dynasty.

Idriss was buried in the nearby village of… Moulay Idriss, where his mausoleum is off limits to non Muslims. The village, perched on two adjacent hilltops, is rather cute and doesn't see too many tourists. In part because up to the middle of the last century, the city as a whole was off limits to non Muslims.

Unfortunately for us, the weather didn't cooperate with our visit, and we decided to forego a visit to Volubilis itself, sticking to the town.

In the evening, we had the fortune of, for the first time, tasting a Moroccan wine. Apparently the region around Meknes is the country's primary source of good wines. We had dinner at pizzeria le four, where the menu claimed that 14% tax was not included, though we also didn't get it charged. The pizzas and salad weren't too bad, and the wine, though rather young, was pleasantly refreshing.

Drugs

The next day, waiting for our train to Fez, having breakfast, a bunch of kids were hanging around the train station, slightly zoned out, sniffing what might have been glue and, ages 8 and up, puffing away on cigarettes.

Related:  Meknes: undervalued imperial city