HERITAGE SITE | MEKNES, MOROCCO

• This scenic hilltop city has plenty to offer the curious visitor, from intricate gates to marvellous museums and mausoleums.
• It is made up of the old city medina and the newer modern suburbs – two distinct centres less than three miles apart but harnessing quite different atmospheres. The city walls are surprisingly still intact and are 14km’s long and 12m high.
• At the heart of the medina is the twelfth-century Grand Musjid. The musjid is surrounded by shops, teahouses in secret courtyards, ornate villas, and workshops of different craftsmen.
• One of the city’s busiest spots is in actual fact the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail – the man who gave Meknes its imperial status. There is always a scholar reciting the Quran at his grave 24/7.
• Bab el-Mansour is a notable stop. Completed in 1732, the gate is impressive not only for its size but its original green and white mosaic tiles, marble columns and inscriptions from the Quran along the top.
• The highlight if Meknes is the Royal Granaries known as Heri es-Souani. It was designed to not only store excessive amounts of grain but to also stable 12,000 horses at a time! Its pillars are all built at 45 degree angles to each other are in perfect proportion to each other. It was indeed a feat of engineering for Moulay Ismail.