Morocco Day 3: Rabat to Fes

​We started our day with a city tour in Rabat.  We visited the Mohamed VI mausoleum, which was built in the 1990s to complement a 12th century Mosque that was partly destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of the 1750s.  The beautiful Mausoleum was built by King Hassan II to remember his father.

From this elaborate courtyard we could see some of the recent construction in and near Rabat to help modernize the reputation of the city.  We liked the new opera house which was just  finished a few months ago and looks like the head of a cobra, as well as the Mohamed VI Tower which is the tallest building in Africa.

Next we visited the Oudaya Casbah in Rabat.  The Casbah was a fortress built by the Sultan to protect the country from European attackers.  It was inhabited by pirates and /or corsairs at different times.  Once peace was achieved, the king invited the Ludaya tribe to occupy the fort, hence the name.  We enjoyed the alleyways, beautiful doors and lovely views of the sea and river.  Most of the buildings were whitewashed, with distinctively Moroccan windows and doors. 

We also visited the Andalusian gardens, which had fruit trees flowers and fountains aplenty.

We traveled through miles of rolling hills with olive orchards and wheat fields, and occasional solitary horses, donkeys and herds of sheep to reach Meknes, where we had a delicious lunch.

Then we proceeded to Volubilis to visit the UNESCO world heritage site of Roman ruins.  The site seemed a bit remote from Rome - but it had a defensible location, a reliable water source, fertile fields and a supply of good stone, so it was actually the perfect location for a city.  After the city was abandoned, nothing was ever built on the site, so it was partly visible throughout the ages.  The French started excavations in the 1950s, which continue today.

The city was estimated to have about 12,000 people - as indicated by more than 60 large villas, and 3 public bathhouses.  It was incredibly hot, so it was hard to enjoy the site, but we did see the lovely mosaics of several villas.

We arrived in Fes around 6 pm, Tired from our travels and ready to rest and recover.

City park, fountain and traffic light outside of our hotel