Volubilis and the Medinas

This past weekend I spent chilling at the house and wandering around Rabat. We also went to see Volubilis, the most extensive ancient Roman ruins in Morocco. It was very relaxing and I was in dire need of a break. Travelling around Morocco is fairly cheap, with a 2 hour train ride costing about $8....taxis are often the most expensive part of a trip. I once took a 4 hour bus ride and paid half the cost of the bus ticket for a 15 minute taxi ride. a bit ridiculous, eh? My bargaining skills have improved though, and I'm afraid that when I return to the US I will be outraged at the price of things....my brain has adjusted and 50 dirhams (or $7) is a lot of many and can go quite far.

Volubilis was pretty sweet. It dates back a long time (i think around 200 ad) and although most of it has fallen apart, it has some bright moments. It is well known for its fairly well preserved mosaics. At its peak, it inhabited around 20,000 people and was failry well developed, with hamum, court, aquaduct, etc. "The last temptaion of christ" was filmed here also. We didn't have a tour, so my theatrical friend Jared acted as our tour guide and gave a highly entertaining tour with a British accent. (he read from the travel guide book). Here Jared is giving the tour to Louise and DD.



These are some arches that were still standing and looked pretty sweet.



After spending a few hours wandering around Volubilis, we took a taxi back to Meknes, had lunch and waited for the train back to Rabat...at which point we saw this hilarious (and extremely creepy-serial killer looking dude) guy staring at us from the train.


One of my favorite pasttimes here has been to wander around the medinas...especially at night. Here's a pic of my friends Jared and Louise the other night when we went to the medina. The medinas are especially lively at night, bustling with locals and tons of great cheap street food vendors are out.



I've tried pretty much everything, minus the liver/onion sandwhich combo. My favorited has been the yogurt/fruit bowl which my canadian friends josh and luke are showcasing. it is very delicious.


My most adventurous sampling has been boiled snails from a cart...not too bad, but very salty. The big ones were rather nasty.


Here's a pic from the medina in Fes...yes, donkeys and horses are the common mode of transport in the medinas, as the alleys are too narrow for cars. Berber transport here is the donkey...they even have new and improved models too;)


This was a cool fabric shop, and my sweet talking with the shop lady allowed me to take this pic. (she usually doesn't let people take pics, but I convinced her my mum would love her;)


This is a part of the medina in rabat:



This is a leather tannery in fes...


these "babouches" are all over Morocco, and are quite comfy slippers...or muffins, as I tend to say.


This is a pic of a cute street in Chefchaouen...the entire medina is filled with cute little streets like this. The combo of white-washed walls with blue/purpley accents was stunning.


These are members of the old man's club in chefchaouen, my personal favorites. They basically had staked out a table with the best view of the square, and you could always find them there people watching. They are wearing the classic moroccan dress (jilabas) which are pretty sweet robes. There are 4 different types depending on the occasion, and men and women wear them (although they are slightly different for men and women).



Morocco has a very interesting blend of the western and arab cultures. You can be in a city with modern buildings and cinemas and mercedes, while a few blocks away in the heart of the medina you will see donkeys carrying loads. The differences are even displayed in the attire of moroccan women, with dress varying from full hijab with only eye slits, a robe with scarf, a robe with no scarf, tight jackets with scarf to no scarf and western style dress. While there is no dress code, a huge majority of moroccan women wear a scarf...probably as much to avoid male attention as for religious purposes;)

On a slightly different note, I spent an amazing few hours the other day at a hammum. I have never felt so squeaky clean before in my life. The experience was at first a bit awkward for us americans, as we didn't know the whole routine and stripping was a bit...awkward. But the women there were awesome and we all got scrubbed down so thoroughly...I never knew we had so much dead skin accumulating on us. It was a great experience and we are all excited to go back for more;) On that note, I hope you are all thoroughly scrubbing that dead skin off of yourselves=)