Visiting the Vestiges of Volubilis

The consonance continues!

This time in the form of Roman ruins in the city of Volubilis (pronounced "Walili" in Arabic), about 2.5 hours northeast of Rabat. This trip was organized through the language school we have been attending, Qalam Wa Lawh. It also included stops in Meknes and Fes. Having visited Fes back in October, we were most interested in Volubilis and Meknes, as they are two cities we would need to have a car (or rent one) in order to visit. We enjoy the trips organized by the school because they tend to hit all the major sights, the prices are super affordable, and the trips include meals, accommodations, transportation, and great Arabic conversation! And as a bonus, we usually end the trip with a few new friends.

The weekend started with an early breakfast at Qalam Wa Lawh, where we met a couple from Malaysia who recently arrived to study Arabic. Retired, they will be spending two months in Morocco, travelling and working on their Arabic. Both attended graduate school in the US and worked many years in the northeast, before travelling the world. We enjoyed learning their story, engaging in Arabic conversation, and sharing travel tips about Morocco. The remainder of the group for this trip was about a dozen students from Saint Andrews University in the UK.

Our first stop was the city of Volubilis, which we can say has been our favorite historical site thus far! This city was established in the 3rd century BC. After a series of inhabitants and rulers (Berber, Roman, Christian, Islamic), the city was ultimately abandoned in the 11th century. Unfortunately, the ruins were struck by a devastating earthquake in the 1700s and people looted most of the stone to build the nearby city of Meknes. Fortunately, restorative work began at the site in the late 1800s and continues to this day. Between French and Moroccan authorities, as well as archaeology students from various universities, excavation and restoration of the facility helped the city land a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

The site certainly provides for some incredible photo opportunities! While we are far from professionals, the contrast between the vibrant green grass and the aged rocks, combined with (what seemed like) perfect sun conditions, made for some stellar pictures (in our opinion). I mean, it also helped that the cutest family of matching cow cats occupy the visitor welcome area..."Welcome to our playground! We accept food in exchange for photos...or a little back rub, please!"

After Volubilis, we managed a brief "hop on, hop off" bus tour of Meknes. But let's be real, it wouldn't be fair to post pictures of anything else after the Volubilis photos...so, we'll just leave this post at that and toss around some Meknes photos later.