Fez to Chefchaouen, Morocco
Bit of a slow start as a group this morning. This was intentional as this is the first time that many of those using the company tents have taken them down and stowed them. I brought my trusty MSR tent so I wouldn’t have to subject anybody else to my snoring!
The plan for the day was to head to the Roman ruins of Volubilis before heading on to the Chefchaouen (the blue city).
We arrived at Volubilis later than anticipated as we managed to get off track a bit as well as clipping the mirror of a parked car. An inauspicious beginning.
Volubilis is a UNESCO world heritage site that “contains essentially Roman vestiges of a fortified municipium built on a commanding site at the foot of the Jebel Zerhoun”. The site was founded in the 3rd century B.C. and was an outpost on the outer edge of the Roman empire. The site was occupied for roughly 1,000 years. We didn’t have a guide for the site so really don’t know anything about the individual structures for the most part. Some photos below with occasional captions.
After leaving Volubilis we headed towards Chefchaouen. Unfortunately we weren’t finished hitting things with the truck for the day. We clipped a truck hauling hay bales with our right mirror and managed to dislodge a hay bale. The second truck was lagging a bit and did notice a hay bale on the road/side of the road. But that wasn’t the worst of it. We also managed to strike an individual that was moving around a parked car as well. There is some uncertainty as to whether the individual walked out into the path of the vehicle or whether the driver was at fault. Either way, the individual was up and walking before being taken to the hospital as a precaution. It did have us sitting around for about three hours unfortunately.
Ultimately we made it to our campground and pitched tents. The other truck arrived before us and had a wonderful Moroccan inspired curry ready when we were done pitching tents. The driver of the other truck was kind enough to swap me a large, cold beer for a couple of tepid ones. All in all, a fine ending to the day.