We started the day off with a delicious Moroccan crepe for breakfast, made by Mohammed’s wife. (By the way, last night’s dinner was amazing).
Then our poor little donkey prepared himself again for the heavy burden of carrying our luggage back down the hill.
Our first stop today was Volubilis, the ancient Roman ruins not far from Moulay Idriss. The buildings on this site date back to the first century. About 20 acres of the site has been excavated which represents about half of the ruins. There were richly appointed residences all with mosaics (these impressive works appear all around Volubilis and have not been restored).
There was evidence remaining of the olive press once used as well as the sewerage system. The people in this community prospered with the lush fertile soil. In fact they were so well off and had so much food, that some homes featured a vomitorium – a place where they would go and throw up (and their lucky Berber slaves got to clean this up) so they could go back and feast some more.
Of course, after eating all that food they had to try to stay in shape so there was a gymnasium and a spa. And to finish the day off, you could head to the brothel. Easy to find, you just have to follow the direction pointed out by the enormous penis.
This visit will remain one of the highlights of my time in Morocco, I’m sure. Our small group of 12 was lucky enough to arrive early and beat the busloads of tourists who arrived an hour into our visit. Our guide was so knowledgeable and clearly had a passion for this part of his country’s history.
Feeling a bit wilted (it was approaching 40° today), we boarded our taxis for a hair raising drive to Meknès. Our driver was literally a metre away from the car in front of us and I’m not sure if he noticed, but I was trying to help him out with the brakes on the passenger side of the car. Despite the apparent total lack of road rules in this country though, the people are really courteous drivers and there never seems to be too much drama.
I really enjoyed Meknès. First of all we visited the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismaïl which was constructed in the 17th century. Moulay Ismaïl ruled Morocco from 1672 – 1727. While a bloodthirsty ruler, he is noted as one of the greatest figures of Moroccan history.
As non-Muslims, there were some parts of this site which we were not allowed visit.
Next we wandered around the souks. The first section we visited had all sorts of Moroccan biscuits and sweets. You can’t really see it in the photo, but there were bees swarming around all of these products. We also encountered the meat section where some live produce was being sold (mainly chickens and rabbits). Then there were dozens and dozens of shops selling Morrocan leather slippers and Nike ripoffs. I’m really not sure how they all make a living.
We met Saïd back in the square and he took us back into the medina for a traditional Moroccan lunch – camel burgers! OMG, it was absolutely delicious. We got to see some camel being butchered before going to the place it was barbequed.
Tonight we have made it to Fès and the train journey this time was much more pleasant. We got seats and I had a lovely chat with a young Moroccan gentleman. Thank goodness I didn’t have to endure another Russian encounter like yesterday. Big adventure tomorrow; Fès is one of the places I have been itching to visit.
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