12 FEB – Yesterday it never stopped raining so I spent the day ‘just being idle’, which when I apply myself can do quite well… I had a quick walk around the town and bought some snacks and drinks, and spent much of the day reading my kindle or sitting on the patio watching the rain.
I finally stopped raining so I got out on the bike to see the local area, as well as visiting the nearby Roman ruins at Volubilis. There is a car park outside the ruins and you pay a warden (with the dayglo surcoat) to park, about 50 pence. There is an entrance fee into the ruins, which is about £2.50 and it is well worth the visit. There is also a museum just down the road but it was closed when I visited, as its still the ‘winter’ season here.
The Roman ruins date back to around 200AD and they are truly astonishing. As you stand there looking at all the stone which made up this small Roman city, you marvel about how they cut the stone and how they transported every bit of stone from the nearby hills.
I love things like this and spent a couple hours meandering through the ruins, trying to imagine what it was like living in this bustling town in 200AD. If you like this kind of thing then you will love this place, as you really get a good sense of how it was. There are even floor mossaics in some of the buildings, made up from thousands of small tiles.
Then it was back to Moulay Idris where I had a wander around the market and got my hair (and beard) cut, which only cost around £2.
I am staying at a small hotel called the Kasbah Senhali. With breakfast and an evening meal it’s costing around £25 a night, which I don’t mind because I get two hearty meals each day. The landlady doesn’t speak English so we communicate in Arabic using Google Translate, and she is very pleasant.
I have a comfy small room with an en-suite and just outside the room is a large patio which overlooks the hillside. Every breakfast and evening meal the landlady has put in front of me I haven’t been able to finish – as there’s just too much food. I say “Non” and yet she brings out more food. For breakfast, besides rolls, porridge, boiled eggs, omelette and yoghurt, there are also two bread rolls that taste like donuts. For each evening meal I had Tagine, and when its served and she takes off the lid and the tagine looks like lava, as it so hot it just bubbles away. I needed to leave before I burst…!
