Meknes and Volubilis, Morocco

The first full day of the tour, and it was a good one.

We set off from Casablanca and travelled to Meknes, one of Morocco’s four imperial cities. Our first stop was the Roman ruins of Volubilis — an ancient city perched on a hillside with views stretching across the surrounding countryside. It’s the kind of place that makes you stop and think about how many civilisations have come and gone, and how little changes in some ways. The mosaics were remarkably well preserved considering they’re nearly 2,000 years old.

From there we stopped at a women’s shelter for lunch, which was a nice way to support the local community while getting a home-cooked meal. Then in the afternoon we had a tour of a local winery, where we all got a bit merry. Moroccan wine isn’t something I’d given much thought to before, but it was surprisingly good — and the group was starting to gel nicely over a few glasses.

After all the food and drink, I decided to skip dinner and had an early night. A solid first day on the road.