volubilis: traveling the moroccan country side

this morning we barely crawled out of bed. after the previous night’s shenanigans we went to bed late and had to get up at 8 today for breakfast and an awaiting driver. today’s goal was to see the ancient ruins of volubilis, africa’s largest roman ruins, that since 1997 have been labeled by unesco as a world heritage site. the drive to volubilis from fes is about 76 km one way. we were taken through a myriad of winding roads and country landscapes, we saw a LOT of donkeys, which seems to this day to be the most used system of transportation around here-the donkey’s don’t look so happy, but they are so sweet and i can’t stop my ritual of taking a photo and then spending some time petting their head telling them life will get better. volubilis was impressive, it was a breath of fresh air, all we’ve been seeing all week was moroccan arches, marble and wood and tile, in that very combination. the ruins felt like we were, for a moment, in a different place. reality soon kicked in when on our short visit to moulay idriss i was vulgarly flashed by a local and with this lovely gesture of hospitality, ran back as fast as i came. i realize that i have now gone about a week without changing my shirt, and for the past couple of days even without changing my pants. it’s the worst feeling in the world and my indiana jones outfit is not only getting old but its actually starting to wear out, i will be able to safely throw it out at the end of this journey knowing it has lived a good life. i came only with 2 muslim safe outfits and it turns out with the heat it wasn’t enough. even though there are women tourists walking around in short shorts and tank tops, i wouldn’t feel very safe to take this risk myself, so i am loyally sticking to my long sleeves and long pants. our driver was really great and took us for a quick run down of meknes (one of the 4 imperial cities), we saw the royal palace, the mellah, and the meknes museum. we were not particularly interested in exploring, it feels like once you have seen one medina you have seen them all. we requested that on the way back home we be taken to a view point to see and take photos of fes’ panoramic view. all our wishes were granted and exhausted and later fed by hamid we are now safely sitting on the rooftop of our riad, slowly saying goodbye to fes. it was a great moroccan experience, tomorrow we head to the coast and are only 2 days away from crossing the strait into spain.