Moulay Idriss, which is quite close to Volubilis, maybe 4 km, so it’s walkable, is Morocco’s most important imperial city. And we couldn’t see Volubilis and not see Moulay Idriss. As this is Morocco’s holiest city, we had to be creative to see to parts that are barred from non-Muslims (they really take that term Infidel seriously here), so we climbed up one of the hillsides outside of town to look down upon the town to see what we were forbidden to see. From up on the hill, you can see why Moulay Idriss the Moroccan saint who the town is named after decided to establish a town here. The view is stunning; the town is surrounded on two sides green river valleys that, again, seem out of place in North Africa, but add to the charm of this place.

 

Since we came to Volubils and Moulay Idriss from Meknes, we have to make this a fast look-see, because non-Muslims aren’t really allowed to be in Mouly Idriss after the sun goes down. So we quickly went to see Moulay Idriss’s mausoleum… the structure is contemplative, but what’s really unique is the round minaret, which I’d never seen or heard of before. It’s not only unique to Morocco, but also extremely rare in the Muslim world in general. It’s not that old, built in the 1930s by a Islamic pilgrim on the way to Mecca who saw something similar and wanted one built in Moulay Idriss!

 

I was disappointed that street life in Moulay Idriss was so restrained compared to Fez and even Meknes, but this is a holy city, so maybe that was the reason. However, since this was a holy city I can’t really complain, austerity marks holy cities everywhere (except for Vatican City). So we were on our way back, and we decided to stop in the inviting and thriving vegetable market (we didn’t want to carry extra things as we explored this non-tourist friendly place) and pick up a few things for the long trip back to Meknes.

 

© 2009 Chris Derrick