Meknes - August 4

Meknes was once an imperial city made so by the avid builder and ruthless Sultan, Moulay Ismail, who began his reign in 1672. For his building projects, he robbed Volubulis (Roman ruins mentioned earlier), and used thousands of slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa and European Christians captured by pirates off the coast of Morocco. These slaves lived in a labyrinth of prisons under the city.

Here we are visiting two of his building projects inside the old city around which he built three sets of walls making it an imposing fortress.

The first picture is in the stables which held 50,000 horses for the Sultan's use. Scenes from the Movie "Matthew" were also filmed here.

The second picture is of the grainstores and water house area. Here, horses worked huge water wheels drawing water from under the ground for use in the city. The thick walls and underground passages kept the grain cool and give the place an air of mystique.

(I have no idea what I'm doing in the picture...)