Roman through the ruins at Volubilis

We finished our stay in Meknes last night with a pleasant meal of soup and vegetable couscous at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the colourful market square, then a long walk back to our riad through the lanes and alleys before a relaxing shower in our bathroom cave and then bed.

This morning we headed out to the hilltop village of Moulay Idriss, named after the great-grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and heir to the Abbasid caliphate in Damascus. After the civil war and subsequent Umayyad victory he fled to Morocco and is buried in a large green-roofed tomb complex in the village that bears his name and which has become a point of pilgrimage for many Moroccan Muslims,. While there we also had the opportunity to observe the sanitation arrangements for the many donkeys that pass through the village.

Then to the remains of the Roman city of Volubilis, situated on a high plateau, a well-preserved town from its construction by the Romans in the first century AD and occupied by them for the next four centuries. It is a huge site and took us about two hours, under the expert guidance of local guide Abdul, to take it all in. By the beginning of the third century it was well established, with eight monumental gates and a monumental centre containing a capitol and basilica, and the triumphal arch of Caracalla. It fell into disrepair after the Romans returned home after the defeat of the Roman armies in Italy by the Goths and was later plundered of stone to build the new city of Meknes. It is now an archaeological site and we could see work underway to uncover a new section.

We then continued on to Chefchaouen, a town of about 40,000 people, again situated on the side of the mountains. Our hotel is a delight – you don’t have to duck to enter the bathroom – and the town itself is coloured blue and white. We went for a long stroll through the medina before having a quiet dinner of chicken tajine and Moroccan salad at a restaurant on the town square. Then home for a shower (standing up) and off to bed.

Tomorrow: a side trip to Tetouan, just one and half hours from here; a UNESCO-listed town where we will walk through the Spanish Quarter, the Jewish Quarter and the medina. Then hopefully, on our return, time for a swim in the hotel’s beautiful pool; the weather continues to be very hot and dry. src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXqoyZlmDIShJNTLR9gny9NYHbI2qqE7JWNvyAtYXd5ua1dyl674qJDB-JDP734ooxTdqGg_nByUrLuNQAsaG6K3No5VagJd_BtqstddOJ-sezEPzi1zXMUKnREhAsCKxG6cl0e32SJfwo/s320/6.+13+SEPT++-+MOULAY+IDRISS+-+VOLUBILIS+-+CHEF+033.jpg" />