Meknes is known as the Versailles of Morocco. Had the enormous building projects of the Alawite sultan, Moulay Ismail, survived the ravages of time, then this metaphor might no seem so extravagant. Encircled by the rich plains below the Middle Atlas, Meknes is blessed with a hinterland abundant with cereals, olives, wine, citrus fruit and other agricultural products that remain the city’s economic backbone. Once the heart of the Moroccan sultanate, the city has a habit of imperceptibly growing on you.