What is a Meknes?

Meknes is one of the historic capitals of Morocco.  From what I gather from Wikipedia (the illustrious source of all knowledge) every city in Morocco has at one point been the capital.  They all get there 50 years or so of fame (this might be a slight exaggeration...)  Meknes had its moment between 1672 and 1727 under the reign of Moulay Ismail (who is the namesake for the university I will be attending and a lot of other things in Meknes.  It's a well recycled name.)

A helpful map with an even more helpful red arrow.

It's a fairly large city, with a population of nearly 1 million.  As a small town girl with no natural sense of direction, I will spend most of my time lost.  Hopefully that will be good for meeting people?  

Meknes also has some pretty sweet gates.

The Bab Mansour, largest of the 27 gates into the city.
"Bab Mansour" probably translates as  "Big Gate" or something.
Since "Bab" actually means "Gate."

There will be more of my own pictures once I actually arrive in Morocco.  Right now it's all speculation and pre-departure anxiety.  Everything is going to be just fine, right?  Right?????

<breathe in, breathe out>