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Volubilis and Château Roslane

A journey into Morocco's ancient past

sunny 79 °F
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Our morning route: from the crowded Fez medina to the New City filled with diplomatic residences and gardens and then on to the countryside. The region around Fez is a fertile agricultural plain against the Middle Atlas mountains, packed with pomegranates, grapes, and olive trees, miles of olive trees. Fences of prickly pear and oleander and roses border the fields, and the land became more and more remote as we travelled inland to Volubilis. Wow! In the midst of this distant area of this distant land, a huge Roman ruin is being excavated. Volubilis is in the far southwestern corner of the Roman Empire and flourished from its 3C BCE founding until local tribes overran the Roman army in 285 AD. The city declined, became Christianized, became Muslim, and was abandoned in the 11th C. And it sat and sat and got covered with dirt. Then the 1755 Lisbon earthquake toppled what was left, and it sat and sat again until the 20th century when excavation began and a fine city began to emerge. Even the storks like it! Moroccan storks nest in columns, cedar trees, and cell phone towers (which are made to resemble palm trees), and the nests are often six feet wide. Apparently the legend of storks’ baby delivery service is almost universal.

After much walking around Volubilis’s triumphal arch and basilica, latrine, public baths, and olive press – and a 21,000 square foot villa - we visited Château Roslane for an elegant lunch beside its vineyard and lavender fields.

Posted by HopeEakins 17:44 Archived in Morocco

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What a setting for lunch! Do you go back to the same hotel at night?

by Seabury

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