Meknès, Morocco
33° 54' N 5° 33' W
Jan 15, 2008 09:33
Distance 0km

earlier Entry 116 of 298 later
You need to upgrade your Flash Player Click here to start downloading FlashPlayer!
Text written in: English

Roman Remains at Volubilis

Tuesday, January 15th. Volubilis. 

       Wow is all I can say, there are ruins and there are remains!!!  With the exception of  Machu Pichu in Peru, most of what I have seen to date are ruins.  One of my biggest disappointments when I visited Greece with Lorna in 2005 was that most of the Greek ruins were rubble, with much missing and its restructuring requiring a lot of imagination.  But not at Volubilis, as here the remains were relatively complete.  This city of 20,000 dated from 300 BC to 300 AD.  We were given an excellent tour of the site; you really got a feel for the place.  There were numerous mosaics and the stones and arches were relatively complete.  As no one was at the site, we were able to get up close to everything and walk everywhere.  Totally an awesome experience.  A real pilgrimage highlight!!  See photos! 

After Volubilis we continued our drive in our own van, which we had picked up that morning in Meknes.  We started to climb up into the Atlas mountain range.  The sights were spectacular, lush green valleys and rolling hills and a pleasant temperature (in the low 20's C).  It does not get extremely hot here in the summer, and the temperature range is 20 to 30 degrees C.  I did not expect to see so much greenery in Morocco. 

Photos / videos of "Roman Remains at Volubilis":

Roman mosaic from about 200 AD. Overview of the site at Volubilis. Another mosaic, there were several, definitely did not photograph most of them. Hot tub, note the curvature of the stone, fits very comfortably in the back as support. As you can see, these remains are in fairly good shape. Interior court yard of one of the villas at Volubilis This is quite impressive, Greece take note. Entrance arch to the city. Photo speaks for itself. Photo speaks for itself. Group photo on the steps of the archway entrance to the city. Parting shot from the parking lot. Countryside, was not expecting rolling green hills. This area is the breadbasket of Morocco. The Romans invaded the area to get control of the fertile fields. The northern portion of the Atlas mountains are in the background. The northern portion of the Atlas mountains are in the background.
earlier Entry 116 of 298 later
You need to upgrade your Flash Player Click here to start downloading FlashPlayer!