Today we did a day trip out to Volubilis, Meknes, and Moulay Idriss. The point of the trip was to go see the Roman ruins at Volubilis, but the only tours we could find included that as a side excursion on a day trip to Meknes. Only an hour and a half, but we made it work. Interestingly enough, we had the same driver that brought us to Fes from the Sahara. Fortunately for us, he wasn’t trying to cover nearly 600 km in 11 hours, so he was able to drive more like a normal person and less like a maniac. Not once today did I feel like we might die in a fiery crash.

Ryan had a wonderful time remembering his high school Latin and trying to read the inscriptions on the stones along the path. Several times, I had to remind him how much time we had before the bus was going to leave so he would have time to see the whole site, and not just a small part of it. He took my prodding with good humor, even though there was grumbling that an hour and a half would only be sufficient if he’d been there many times before. There were beautiful mosaic floors in what are presumed to be the homes of the wealthy, and many different styles of columns. We never did manage to see the whole site, but I think we got most of it. We’re going to need to find a book that has information about Volubilis, as there wasn’t a lot available there.

After Volubilis, we stopped at Moulay Idriss for an hour for lunch. Ryan and I didn’t eat lunch where we stopped, rather just wandered around for the hour. We found some “chicken fries” chip-style snacks that were made out of crispy rice and chicken flavor that were pretty decent. If you’ve ever had Veggie Sticks, those are closest in texture and flavor.

Afterward, we piled back into the bus and went to Meknes, where we got lost, got unlost, wandered the Medina, and finally found some of the items that were on our list for bringing home.

We were back in Fes between 6:30 and 7, stopped at the Disney pizza place for dinner and then finished up our shopping.

All in all a really nice day. Tomorrow we catch a train to Rabat and then a plane to Paris where we will stay overnight before flying home.

Pictures won’t load tonight, WiFi is having issues. Special issue will come later (like several days later) with everything.