Volubilis

One of the most memorable places visited among all wonderful cities, for me, was Volubilis in Northern Morocco. In a guidebook, there may be only one or a half page speared on this historical site. Most people may or may not come on a day visit from nearby Maknes.

I am not sure how busy this place gets in a high season, but when we were there it was empty. We deliberately went there around the sunset time two days in a row (entrance charge was next to nothing).

Words cannot describe the wonder of this place. Roman ruins buried in wild flowers and tall grasses. Absolutely enchanting. It feels that the place is abandoned and left in wild for centuries in the most beautiful way. Most of the structures are destroyed, but you can still see beautifully done tiles, pillars, drainage in bath/ swimming pool, olive oil extract factory etc. It amazed me how advanced their civilization was. Apparently, some houses of noble people even had a heated floor!! We had this place almost all to ourselves.

I was just fascinated by this place. I imagined how this place must have looked like centuries ago filled with Roman people. I wanted to watch some Roman theme movies movies to satisfy my imagination and obsession. We found a TV series called Rome, and we totally got hooked on it! We would download a few episodes at a time through i-tune (given slow internet connectivity) and watched them throughout the trip. I also read practically most of Wikipedia entries about Rome and major historical figures. This is how magical this place was.    

We stayed here for two nights at a charming farm style maison d’hote, run by Moroccan man who used to work in a posh Michelin restaurant in Holland. We enjoyed organic five-course dinner and story telling by the adventurous owner. Actually, he is one of the people who encouraged us to go through Mauritania, and he put us in touch with his friend who owns a guesthouse in Saint. Louis in Senegal. The guesthouse was 10 minutes walk to the wonderland of Volubilis.