Meknes

Located at the edge of the Middle Atlas mountains in central Morocco, the small city of Meknes is about a one hour train ride west of Fez. Though it resembles Fez in many ways, Meknes is smaller and more laid back. I bargained hard at the Majestic Hotel in downtown Meknes, but still went a little over budget as the room ended up costing me 220 dirhams per nite, or about 27 US dollars. For that price I do not get breakfast, but the hotel clerk did agree to throw a small electric fan into the bargain since the room has no air conditioning and it is about 104F in Meknes right now during the long afternoons.There do not seem to be many tourists in Morocco right now, likely due in part to the late April terrorist bombing in Marrakesh which killed 15 people (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13226117) and also due to fears of political uprising as in neighboring countries like Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, etc. There are articles in the Moroccan papers every day about King Mohammed VI and his proposed constitution for Morocco, and yesterday there were protests across Morocco as reformers say that the King is not relinquishing enough power. In contrast, as shown in the above photo, there were also large groups of shirtless youths out on the city streets waving photos of the King to show their support for the monarchy:

http://en.news.maktoob.com/20090000838452/Moroccans_protest_for_and_against_new_constitution/Article.htm

Maybe the proposed constitution will be enough to appease King Mohammed’s subjects for now, but if not what will follow could be similar to other "Arab Spring" uprisings that have erupted across North Africa and the Middle East.