It is time to say goodbye to Fes and move on to greener pastures. Quite literally, it felt like we were driving through Ireland it was so green and lush.
One of our major stops today was Volubilis to go and see some Roman ruins. Now, we have seen a lot of ruins in our travels – I think I’ve said it before, those Romans sure did get around – so we tempered our expectations. If all we saw were a few crumbling rocks with a sign saying that they used to be a huge bathhouse, or a kitchen, or a palace, or a car, we would believe that the archeologists knew what they were talking about and then we would try to picture it, unsuccessfully, for ourselves.
It was a cold, rainy and windy morning so there weren’t a lot of people there, which made us a bit nervous. Was this a ‘fair weather’ excursion only? Was it so bad that nobody visited? Where is everyone??
We needn’t have worried. As soon as we walked through the ticket gate, we could see gates, structures, columns, walls, arches and so much more. These were some of the most intact ruins we’ve ever seen. Sure, they were crumbling down, they’re almost 2000 years old, after all, but what was left standing (okay, to be completely honest – most of the big structures were reconstructed/restored) left little to the imagination. We were able to picture the city, the roads, the shops and merchants and the baths.
We could see all the way from the entrance gate, down the main road, right to the main gate to the other end of the city. It was absolutely incredible. That wasn’t even the craziest part! Nope. In most of the houses, the floors were still intact and many of them were covered in very intricate mosaic tiles depicting stories of Hercules and other gods.
We very easily could have passed on these ruins, thinking that we’ve seen ruins before and do we really want to go see more rocks? It is moments like these that reinforce our decision to travel, to see and do all that is offered to us, to do our very best to be open to all experiences – to just say YES!! It is almost always worth it; for the (extremely) rare occasion it isn’t, what’s an hour out of your life to try something new?
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