Volubilis

I do love me some good ruins every now and then.

We packed up the rental car and headed out of Fes, towards Rabat. This whole area was really beautiful farmland and rolling hills. The olives were being harvested, and fields were being plowed and seeded. It's hard to believe that this is winter.

Not far from Menkes, there is an abandoned town of excavated ruins of the Roman town of Volubilis.

Most of what is still there was built in the 2nd century AD, with an older Carthaginian site exposed as well.

I wish I could have timed my visit later in the day. The overhead sun made shooting really tricky.

From afar, we didn't really think that it would take us more than an hour to walk through. Once you get into the site though, there's just so much to see.

The Capitoline Temple:

I actually found it more engaging than I did Rome. You could really get close to this, while, understandably, the ruins of Rome you are kept a safe distance from everything and you are up on a walkway above it all.

Volubilis isn't even fully excavated yet.

The Basilica:

The Arch of Caracalla, with an inscription that we should all be Hailing Caesar:

There were lots of mosaics. This one had a shadow of the barricade rope over it that I couldn't get rid of, so I had everyone stand in front of it.

The interiors of houses, bathhouses. Open for the world to see. Places like this do a good job of creeping me out in the best possible way. Thousands of people lived their lives here.

Oh, my dear man Bacchus. Why couldn't you have been more of an influence here? We actually did try some Moroccan wines as they do grow some grapes, which were pas mal. Alcohol is just not a thing here, and you have to go to a western-style hotel bar or an upscale restaurant to get it. Two places I just don't want to go to while I'm traveling. I will consider this my detox.

I wasn't aware of Nazi dolphins populating this area.

It took a while, but we found Diana bathing with her nymph.

They were right next to the lone cyprus tree.

It was an amazing site. Stupidly, no one brought water since we didn't think it would take us too long to do a walk-through, and it was blazing hot. So we had an abbreviated visit, but a good one none the less. If you were really into Roman architecture and art, I would be so bold as to say you should allot a full day here.