"Meknès" a Meknes Travel Page by Bernhadette

Meknès is one of the Imperial cities. Each of its three main areas has its own charm, and each presents another century in Moroccan history and architecture. The "Medina" is said to have been founded by the Meknessa in the 10th century, the "Ville Impériale" was built by the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail at the end of the 17th century and the "Ville Nouvelle" set up by the French at the beginning of the 20th century.

Meknès is luckily not as overrun by tourists as its sisters Fès and Rabat. It's very modern in lifestyle, compared to the more eastern towns. It has experienced its bloom under Moulay Ismail (1672-1727), who made Meknès his capital. His successors left the town for Fès, and after the great earthquake of 1755 it completely lost its prominent position until the times of the French occupation.

Nowadays Meknès' streets are full of life. Especially in the evening hours the young Meknassi promenade in the streets and populate the cafés and restaurants. You have plenty of possibilites for shopping: traditional arts and crafts at the medina; fashion, books and fresh, delicious tidbits of "pâtisserie" and candy in the main streets of the Ville Nouvelle. You can have an evening out at the movies, but you will have to content yourself with mostly mainstream cinema (action films and melodramatic love stories).

If you can, allow some extra time to visit the city by all means. This way you can get a taste of each aspect of life in Meknès: history, everyday-life and amusement.

In English:
lexicorient.com/morocco/meknes.htm

In French:
www.meknes-net.com
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekn%C3%A8s
www.linternaute.com/voyage/maroc/meknes
www.marocain.biz/Mar/Meknes.php

In German:
www.marokko.net/info/staedte/html/meknes.html
www.arabic-art.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=36
(This article has some grammatical mistakes, but contains a lot of information.)

Meknès photos:
photosmaghreb.canalblog.com/archives/maroc___meknes/index.html
www.virtourist.com/africa/morocco/meknes/index.html
www.meknes-net.com/galeries/album.php?categorie=1

Meknès maps:
www.meknes-net.com/ville/info.php?id=plan
www.quid.fr/monde.html?mode=detail&iso=ma&style=carte&nbphot=1&id=50485&docid=803#map
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-northwest-map-mar-mek_nw.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-central-west-map-mar-mek_cw.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-southwest-map-mar-mek_sw.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-southeast-map-mar-mek_se.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-central-east-map-mar-mek_ce.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-northeast-map-mar-mek_ne.htm
www.planetware.com/map/meknes/meknes-medina-map-mar-med.htm