From Casablanca to Fès

I've heard that Casablanca is a fairly industrial city, with only a couple unique attractions -- Rick's Café and the Hassan II Mosque -- so I didn't plan too much time there. I wish I had though, because I ended up wasting a full day on air travel and seeing nothing of the city.

If I could do it over, I would've trained from Madrid there, as another family in my tour group did (maybe next time...) and seen the scenery on the way. Instead, I landed at the airport at 4PM and hailed a taxi to centre-ville, which is almost an hour drive away. Though we'd agreed on the price beforehand (300 MAD), I still ended up getting into an argument with the driver at my hotel, who suddenly decided to demand 400 MAD. It wasn't the first time such taxi scams had happened to me when travelling alone, and though I was really happy in Madrid on my own, I was glad to be back with a tour again here. In the end, I told him I had no more cash on me and gave him 350.

That night, I had my first taste of Moroccan cuisine for dinner: chicken tangine. It was good, but not the best thing I've ever tasted. The next morning, we were off at 7:30 to drive to Fès, with a few stops along the way.

The main one was Volubilis, site of ancient Roman ruins.

As a classics nerd, I had a great time walking around the ruins, once home to 10000 people (of which 7000 were slaves). The landscape around the site was also stunning and reminiscent of Tuscany. Overall, Morocco was much greener and more fertile than I'd expected.

A lot of the mosaics were still intact, surprisingly. They depicted figures and stories of ancient mythology, like Orpheus playing the lyre, Dionysus discovering Ariadne on Naxos, and Hercules' labours.

My years of Latin and classics lessons came back as we walked around the Forum and saw the peristyles in the houses, the arches, and main road lined with columns into the town.

We saw the whole package, complete with an old brothel and its interesting stone plaque!

Just outside Fès, we stopped for lunch -- lentil soup, salad, and caramelized chicken -- at a restaurant partnered with non-profits that help rural Moroccan women build skills and find work, such as G Adventure's Planeterra Foundation. We got to chat with the women there and learn more about their day-to-day lives over tea and cookies.

Finally, passing by a beautiful reservoir along the way, we arrived in Fès just after 4pm.