9/22 -- Meknes, Volubilis, and Fes

The text/photos for this post got lost somewhere, and I am trying to recreate it on 10/18.... Thanks to Driss for his summary, which will help.

On our way out of Rabat, we made several stops. The first was at a cork tree forest where we could see close up how cork grows. The trees all have indications of how high up the bark has been sliced off -- about as tall as I am. The bark grows back for harvesting again every eight years, so it is quite a sustainable product. I have read that with the advent of plastic corks and screwtops on wine bottles, that the cork industry in some areas is in trouble, but the cork forests here seem well tended.

Closeup of cork bark

 Next, we stopped at a roadside stand and bought fresh grapes (which were rinsed liberally with bottled water to be safe for us to eat.

Grape stand

 Soon after, we found another roadside stand with jujubes (a kind of nut, not the candies you see in the US) and poultry. Driss struck up a conversation with the vendor, who invited us to come to his house across the street for tea. When we got there, his mom volunteered to make us a Berber omelet instead and the next thing we knew, we were in her small kitchen with a couple of us helping scramble the 8 fresh eggs the son brought in, and she threw about 2 tablespoons of thyme into the eggs and made the best meal we have had yet. She brought it outside to serve along with freshly made bread. Yummy!

A variety of poultry for sale

Mom, Joan, and Michele in the kitchen

Velma, local mother, Michele, Joel and Joan getting a taste

 Back on the bus, we arrived at Meknes, where we visited the grainery, horse stables, and mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, a ruler in the 1600s.

Interior of one of the grainery halls

Arches in what is left of the stables.

Courtyard of the mausoleum

Entrance to the medina of Meknes, where we had lunch.

 Then it was on to the Roman ruins at Volubilis, where many of the old mosaics were in wonderful shape. Much has been rebuilt with different colored stone so that you can tell what the original parts were. How you could piece it back together was pretty much beyond me.

Mosaic of an entertainer riding the horse backwards

The road leading to Rome

On the way to Fes, we were hampered by a large migrating flock of sheep who 'owned' the road for a while.

Our final drive of the day took us to Fes (Fez) where we stayed in another Riad, which had formerly been used by 31 extended family members. When it got down to 8 residents, they decided to convert it to a hotel to keep it in the family.

Family members and employees of the Riad

View into the covered atrium dining room
from our room.