Post #5 Oct 8th. World Heritage site: Volubilis and Fes arrival.

Today we started with a leisurely breakfast at our hotel Dar Jasmine.  Judith has already left for the restaurant and I finish getting ready.  I counted the 38 steps you have to take to reach the restaurant.  I had estimated the number at 24 in my last blog post.  Counting the 159 steps from the road to the lobby makes a total of 197 steps.  I do some more math, using 7 inches as the average stair height and the total height is around 120 feet.  

Given the small size of the hotel, they don’t have a buffet.  Instead, they offer a breakfast menu with two choices, a healthy yogurt option and the a continental version with an egg.  I opt for the continental.  The hotel staff have been excellent. I can’t recall the last time I’ve experienced such attentive and helpful service across the entire range of staff we’ve dealt with.  

I end up taking another picture of the city from the hotel.  Judith thinks it’s the prettiest city she has seen and given that she’s been to over 40 countries, I think she’s an expert here.  

We checked out and started to proceed down the stairs.  Judith finds going down stairs challenging as her depth perception isn’t as good as it once was.  Uneven steps without handrails are troublesome and the steps at Dar Jasmine were difficult. The porters carrying our luggage have gone up and down these stairs many times and they blew by us taking our luggage down to the van.

We spent a long time in the van today gong from Chefchaaouen to Fes by way of Meknes.  We were using secondary roads and the roads transverse mountainous areas.  It was slow and windy compared to the much faster smooth highway driving from Casablanca.

Our first stop was to pick up groceries at an independent olive oil producer.  They were manufacturing the cold press olive oil on site so I went over to investigate.  The olives were dumped into a large hopper.  Stems were removed and the olive berries were washed several times in a long conveyer system.  At the end, the berries were crushed to produce the oil and then packaged into plastic bottles for sale.  Some of the berries were also processed for sale.  

Berries in the hopper going up a chute to have stems removed.

The olive berries are then washed several times.  At the end of the line it enters into the pressing area. Below is the final stage where the oil is collected.

The next stop was at an old building that was once a border checkpoint between Spain and Morocco. It’s now decommissioned and there is a local market there.  Our guide and driver pick up some dried figs and beans.  We learn that Larabee lives and Fes and will be going home; the produce he bought was for his household.

We stopped at a couple of roadside coffee shops.  The the first morning stop is at Restaurant de Pergola.  It’s busy and crowded with tourists.   We decide not to purchase any coffee or tea.  Judith went to use the washroom and of course there is a long line of women and no line up in the men’s room.  There was a general discussion and confirmation that this thing always happens for women no matter where you live.  The attendant allowed the women to use the men’s facilities when there was a break in usage and the women’s line up quickly dried up.

Our visit today was to Volubilis, a UNESCO World Heritage site as of 1997. Volubilis was a remote outpost of the Roman Empire that was taken over from Carthaginian traders in 25 BCE.  At its height the city was home to more than 20,000 people covering 42 hectares.  The area around it was deforestated to grow wheat for the population.  Also there are many olive presses scattered around the site, indicating this was also an important crop used for cooking and fuel for lamps.  The site was abandoned and was not occupied by about 1,000 years, representing important authenticity in the site’s evidence.  Our guide indicated that some artifacts were taken by a colonizing country and are sitting in the Louvre.  

UNESCO World Heritage sign

A stone used for pressing olive oil.  

Some of the mosaic tile work that has been excavated.  

More intricate mosaics.

The triumphal Arch of Caracalla that was built in 217 CE by the council of Volubilis in honour of the emperor Caracalla.  He was know for bestowing Roman Citizenship on its inhabitants and exempted them from paying taxes.  

This is the laundry area.  The stones are have been beaten and shaped by centuries of washing. The basin would be filled with water that flowed in through the far side via a channel from the aqueduct.  

The Basillica and temple area.  

Some pictures from the town site.  There are many impressive residential and administrative buildings and most were built in the 2nd and third century.  Much of it was destroyed in 1755 due to an earthquake.  Less than half of the site has been excavated so there are more treasures to be discovered.  Some of the floors in the residences had elaborate tile work.  Despite the many centuries that have gone by since they were laid, the tiles continue to show their vibrant colours when water is poured over them.  

We hired a separate specialized guide for the site.  He was excellent and explained how the site housed several different civilizations over 10 centuries of occupation.  He showed three styles of columns (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) built here and the types of residential or administrative buildings present.

The next stop was to the nearby town of Moulay Idriss Zerhourn, where we decided to have some lunch in the main square.  Our view is of the city scape and if you can ignore the cars parking nearby, it’s kind of pretty.  

The town is named after Idris I, founder of Idrisid dynasty headquartered at Vilobulis.  There’s lots of activity during our lunch with mules and donkeys going by laden with goods.  

 

At lunch we get served some of that signature Moroccan green tea with mint.  The serving method involves pouring it from high above to create bubbles. 

After the late lunch we travelled to Meknes.  This is a town that has a famous Medina, but we only drove around the various sites and looked at the Medina and high walls.  It has the largest intact wall system, but after many years of neglect, the city is now undertaking a large restoration project and much of the site, particularly its signature gates, are below green barrier cloth.  It’s all part of the looking good for FIFA World Cup time in 2030.  

Our next stop is Fes.  Much of the literature spells the city name as Fez, but I’ve decided to use the spelling that appears on all the signage.  It’s one of the three largest cities in Morocco and the Medina is supposed to be huge.  Our hotel is located in the Medina and we arrive around 5:30 and check in.    

The hotel is a small boutique hotel:  the Riad Madison Bleue.  It has about 20 rooms and was built from assembling 4 adjoining properties.  Our room is pretty funky:

We had a small dinner at the hotel restaurant as we weren’t very hungry and we were cautioned by Mounied not to go out at night.  While it’s perfectly safe, there are over 8000 streets in the Fes Medina, and many of them are just wide enough for two people to pass each other.  The not going out at night issue is about getting lost, and at night, it’s harder to find your way since there aren’t many street lights.  We just had to go up the stairs you saw in the video to the terrace for our hotel restaurant.

Our dinner was Moroccan — a variety of Moroccan dishes brought in mini terrine cookware.  The dishes were unveiled by taking off the top of the terrine to review each of the dinner dishes.  As we were tucking in, the music got hijacked from some jazz to Kenny Rogers, Coward of the County, Amarillo by Morning by George Straith, more Kenny Rogers, The Gambler and finally Sonny and Cher, I’ve got you babe.  It did seem odd eating that meal with that music playing in the background.

It was then off to bed.  I was too tired to finish that day’s blog so it will arrive later the next day.