A day in Roman Morocco

On our way to Fes we spent a couple of hours at Volubilis, an extensive Roman city covering 42 hectares.  It was founded about the 3rd century BC, and was a Roman outpost for about 300 years producing Olives and Olive Oil for the Empire.  After the Romans fell it was occupied for another 700 years by the local Christians, then by the Islamic community.  It was abandoned by the 11th Century and because of this remained well preserved and is now part of the Unesco world heritage portfolio.

Even today it is a lush and fertile valley.











Perhaps one of the most amazing things about this site is that after 2000 years the mosaics are remarkably well preserved after centuries of being hidden then exposed to the elements after the site was first excavated by the French around 1912




Along the way we have been seeing an unfamiliar (to us anyway) fruit on sale, obviously in season at the moment.  It is the fruit of the cactus.  We tried some and they were very tasty.  Made even better by the seller peeling them for you so you just have to eat them with none of the peeling hassle.