Meknes Countryside

On the outskirts of our town lies a quiant olive farm and a growing business. Reda and his wife Katrina started this business in the last couple of years and have quickly produced some of the best olive oil in the country.

After inheriting the local farm from his father, Reda got to work planting trees and gathering his equipment. A few short years later, he is busy shipping these beautiful bottles of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to various places throughout Europe and Canada.

Olive Farm Business Sign

A few little known facts about the Olive Oil business:
* Once you plant an olive tree, it takes 5 years to yield good olives
* It is an alternating year tree. One year you get plenty of good olives and the next year you get very few.
* November and December are the primary months for making the Oil. The rest of the year, they sit back and sell their product.

It was quite a fun experience that day to take the kids out to the countryside and let them run around. Unfortunately, the machine wasn’t running so we couldn’t watch the entire process. But that does get me excited about this coming up winter.

Another way that Reda helps to alleviate his costs is to “rent out” his machinary to the local farmers and let them produce oil from their own olive farms. Quite the ingenious business idea.

Not only does he produce great olive oil, but as a testimony, we have now started using it in our cooking classes at Savor Morocco and have gotten great reviews over it.

This is the third part in our series on traveling in Morocco with kids . Today we will feature Meknes. Meknes is a smaller town with comparitively less to do than Marrakesh or Rabat, but it still offers some nice options for kids if you are staying there for a few days.

Great Places for your Kids:

McDonald’s To the Rescue (Again): The McDonalds in the center of town has a play area for kids and a nice outside sitting area. Always a safe bet.

Aladdin Park: Located on the way out of town on Trek Fes, about 15 km from the city center. It can only be accessed with a car, no buses or taxis go there. There is a restaurant, activity/event center and a playground for kids aged 3-10. It also has a pool that is open in the summer and is not very crowded. The drinks in the cafe are a bit pricey but worth it for the atmosphere and access to the playground. During the summers this park is packed with people in the evening after 7 pm.

Jumpy Gym: The moms we interviewed did not know the official name of this play area, only referring to it fondly as “The Jumpy Gym.” It is located 5 minutes behind the small train station in Meknes (over the bridge and down the small hill). Entrance costs a few dirhams and the kids can jump on the inflatable castle there. They also have food and drinks available.

Parks: Meknes has several parks throughout the city for kids to romp around and run in. There are no other playgrounds other than the ones mentioned above. One park, located between the New City and the Medina on the road to the old Medina has a small zoo of mostly birds. It costs 10 dhs to get in. It is somewhat irregular in its hours.

Volubilis: The ancient Roman ruins are a great place for kids to run free and experience the ancient history. One Meknes family we interviewed noted Volubilis as their kids favorite spot in Meknes.

Hi, my name is Chris and I run Savor Morocco, a Moroccan cooking school in Meknes, and I want to welcome you to Meknes, the least known of the 5 Imperial Cities in Morocco, yet the founding city of the current Alouite Dynasty. Even though we are quiet and tiny compared to the other 4 (Fes, Marrakech, Rabat & Casablanca), I love the small-town feel that Meknes has to offer. It is very difficult to get lost within our city, and a taxi ride rarely costs more than 15 dH (about $2 USD). Any time I want to go shopping, I don’t need to worry about having to bargain for 30 minutes to get a fair price. Tourism is on the rise thanks to current improvements being made throughout the city, and at the same time, hasn’t corrupted the store owners and taxi drivers.

Rumor Has It… The Tomato

Rumor has it that one day back in the 1980′s, the previous King (Hassan II) was traveling around Meknes in his car while all the people were waiting on the side of the roads cheering him on. It was probably one of those fabulous parades with countless musicians playing their drums and African instruments celebrating the arrival of their leader.

At one point in the King’s trek, while he was standing up and waving at the passing crowds, some random person ran up to the side of his vehicle and threw at tomato at the King, hitting him in the side of the head. Obviously humiliated and fuming, he headed straight back to Rabat and issued a decree that nothing could be built in Meknes for the following 10 years. They removed all the bricks, dirt and cement from the city and left us behind for the next decade. Over the past 3 years, we have seen many parks being built and buildings being restored. The current King (Mohammed VI) has definitely started pouring in the money to get the luster back in this once-extravagant city.