Meknes is the city of Moulay Ismail, a sultan who ruled Morocco for fifty-five years from 1672 and decided that the capital needed to be as big as his ambitions. He built an imperial city of ramparts, gates, palaces, granaries and stables, using thousands of workers and captives, and the scale of it still startles. Bab Mansour, the great ceremonial gate, is covered in green and white tilework and marble columns taken from Roman Volubilis, and it stands over a large square called El Hedim, where storytellers and food stalls gather in the evening. The granaries, the Heri es-Souani, are a series of immense vaulted halls with walls several metres thick, where grain and animals were once stored, and the quiet inside is cool and heavy.
Meknes is a city of more than half a million, with all the services, including fuel, pharmacies, cafes and repair shops, and it feels much less hurried than Fez, an hour to the east, or the tourist magnets of Marrakech. The medina is walkable and pleasantly local, and the wine from the surrounding vineyards is some of the best in Morocco. Parking near the main gates is reasonably easy, but in the old town you walk.
From Meknes the riding gets interesting. Thirty kilometres north lie the Roman ruins of Volubilis, with mosaics and a triumphal arch standing in wheat fields, and to the south the road climbs into the Middle Atlas toward El Hajeb, Ifrane and Azrou. The Middle Atlas is cedar country, with forests of huge old trees and Barbary macaques waiting beside the road for a handout, though feeding them is not a good idea. Ifrane, a ski town built in a Swiss-alpine style, feels completely out of place, which is rather the point.
The roads are generally good, with long bends, rolling highland and big skies, though trucks are slow on the climbs, and police radar is common, so keep to the limits. In winter the Middle Atlas gets snow and ice, with fog on the pass, and in summer it is a pleasant escape from the heat of the plains. Spring is the best season, with green fields, wildflowers and clear air, and autumn runs a close second.