Fez to Chefchaouen via a Roman ruin

We were on the move out of Fez early heading towards another of Morocco’s Imperial Cities - Meknes. This was the capital back in the 1600s and now is sixth largest city in Morocco.

It is famous for a large gate that was designed by a Christian slave who converted to Islam. Morocco didn’t have African slaves but did have European ones. There is also a Mausoleum where the ancestors of the current king are buried. The Mausoleum is called the Mausoleum of Sheikh al-Kamel and is very ornate with lots of tiles.

The gate is called the Bab Mansur al-‘Alj and was designed by Mansour al-‘Alj who also designed a number of other buildings in the city.

This region is very agricultural with olives and citrus being the main crops. There were people everywhere selling oranges or watermelons on the side of the road. The soil is a lot better than down south around Marrakech and they get a lot more rain. That said there are a few unusual aspects - there are no fences between paddocks, and there is always a shepherd close by the numerous groups of goats or sheep we came across.

After looking around we then headed for the Roman ruins at Volubilis. This was a Roman outpost on the south western edge of the Roman Empire. It was established around the third century BC and occupied for a few hundred years after that. It was severely damaged by an earthquake in the 18th century. Around the end of the 19th century it was formally identified and excavations began soon after.

While not as big or perfectly preserved as Pompeii it was still very impressive and a lot less crowded. The guide took us around and showed us some of the key buildings. The Romans were very good a getting water to their settlements and had a system of aqueducts to take water from the mountains into the city.

The French had excavated and rebuilt some of the key buildings but most of it is just a ruin.

After Volubilis we headed to our final destination for the day, the blue city of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains.

This a a very social-media friendly town with lots of its buildings painted blue. We arrived quite late so we dumped the bags and headed out to find somewhere for dinner. The main square was full of people hassling you to go to one restaurant or another but we followed Google and found a small restaurant away from the main square with a rooftop terrace and views across the town. To cap it off the food was pretty good as we watched the sun set.

Tomorrow we explore a bit more.Читать далее