Exploring Volubilis and moving onto imperial Fes
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2008
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77
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Trip End
Jun 05, 2008
Fes, Morocco
Saturday, May 10, 2008
The first one we saw was the Abduction of Hylas by nymphs - basically Hylas being molested by 2 nymphs and away from his job (this mosaic was in the House of Venus). Up around this area we had excellent views of most of the Volubilis ruins and the surrounding fields - all different colours and sizes. We walked a little down Decumanus Maximus - the main street and the focus of all village activity - shops and stalls lined this street. You could tell what shop was where - the chicken picture represented the chicken shop, the shell the seafood and the bull the butchers. The house of the big game was next with mosaics of lions. This was followed by Diana bathing that had beautiful red mosaics (all the colourful tiles were made using natural products - terracotta, marble, topaz etc etc). we saw a mosaic that depicted the 4 seasons and another called Labour of Hercules showing us all his feats.
The house of the Knight was next - featuring Ariadne who was naked but all her tiles have been chipped away by the Muslims (only an outline remains). We walked through the Triumphal Arch built 217AD - awesome views here - then saw the brothel - a large penis adorns a rock... you can tell when groups get to this area as there is a loud cackle of laughter.! We saw the House of the acrobat which had an excellent mosaic of a rider on a horse with a trophy, we walked past the remains of the basilica and forum and then saw the toilet and the vomitarium (back then they would eat and gorge themselves stupid - go throw up and then gorge themselves again!). Last thing we saw was the huge olive press then our tour was over - we thanked Rashid and hopped in our taxis for the trip back to the city of Meknes.
Jo and I got dropped off at the medina and walked around for a bit - actually running into Sophia along our travels. Entering the medina we got lost and a kind man directed us the right way. We saw a man in a smallish room feeding a fire with sawdust - the was heating the hammam next door. Our kind man led us on and took us to his shop (yes - how convenient!) - we had a 1 minute look and then went in search of food. We stopped at the food section searching for the camel heads - no luck. In the sweet section all the food was covered in bees. The butcher area was grose but there was a very neat olive shop! Nothing to eat we ended up walking back to hotel and stopping at McDonalds on the way - nuggets chips and a sundae (managing to break 2 lots of 200 dirham notes for smaller stuff - thats a bonus!). We chilled out and did a bit of internet then met around 3pm so we could all walk the 5 mins to the train station.
Our train to Fes was on time and there were plenty of seats - it was only an hours trip. On arrival we got cabs to our new hotel (which is in some back street), had a quick shower and got a bit dressed out for our night our at the Sofitel and the Riad. Its a cab ride up there - all the way to the top of the medina to the Sofitel Palais Jamai. We timed it perfectly and watched the sunset, ordered drinks and snacked on all the free snacks then waited till 7.20pm for the call to prayer. It was great - mosque after mosque (all 365 of them) started and it was like a wave of singing rolling over the buildings - sounded fantastic! After we made our way to the Riad Restaurant Dar Jamai for our 6 course feast... yum yum yum. We were definitely full by the end...! On the roof of the riad were fantastic night views of Fed and its huge medina - Sophia and I explored some of the rooms (you can actually stay here too) then we caught a petite cab back - we had the driver that was Fangio in a previous life - no seat belts and he was driving death defying speeds round corners .... was a great night!
