With only two weeks left in Morocco, despite how excited I am go to home, there is so much I’m going to miss here. I’ve had the most amazing time in Morocco and it seems strange, after being here for almost four months, to leave. I may have lived in Morocco, but Rabat has become my home. It’s like how your college becomes your second home when you’re living there. For me, Rabat has become my home. I live in an apartment, have a routine, know how to get around the city by memory, get to wake up everyday to the most amazing view from my balcony of the entire skyline of the city, I have friends here, an adopted family in Tarmilat who told me their door is always open to me, and every day am able to speak more and more Arabic. There’s so much I’m going to miss about Morocco. So here are a couple of my favorite places in Morocco:
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Volubilis
The ancient Roman city of Volubilis was absolutely beautiful. It’s located near the city of Meknes and used to be the ancient capital of the Roman-Amazigh kingdom of Mauretania. Located in the middle of the mountains in the winery region of Morocco with rolling, lush, green hills, yellow daisies scattered across the grounds, the Moroccan-style homes of the farmers and winemakers, the clear blue skies, and the mountains in the distance, the view takes your breath away. Remains of Volubilis have also been very well preserved. You can still see the entire foundation, flooring, and sometimes still parts of the ancient Roman houses there. You could see and actually sit in Roman baths (which were actually hot tubs heated by the geothermal pools in the area), extravagantly decorated tiled floors depicting the various ancient Roman gods, archways into the city and houses, where wine used to be made, and even a large stone where people used to be sacrificed as part of the ancient Roman religion.
(Landscape view of Volubilis)
(Hot tub/bath tub in the remains of a house)
(Decorative tile of some of the ancient Roman gods in the remains of a home)
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The Sahara
The Sahara desert, which stretches across all of North Africa, is the world’s largest hot desert at 3,600,000 square miles, similar to the size of China. The word “Sahara” (صحراء) in Arabic, literally means “desert,” so calling the Sahara the Sahara desert is a bit rhetorical. In Morocco, usually most Moroccans just refer to it as the Sahara. It was one of my favorite places in Morocco. The view of it is absolutely spectacular and when you’re in the Sahara, the concept of borders truly do not exist.
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Tarmilat
I’ve already written an entire blog on how much I love Tarmilat and despite how there may not be much to do there besides tour the Sidi Ali factory (water brand), it is still a spectacular view and even worth just a drive through.
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M’diq
M’diq is a town in Morocco on the Mediterranean sea that my program spent the night in before going to Ceuta, Spain which is a city on the coast of North Africa which is governed by Spain. The view of the Mediterranean sea from M’diq was absolutely beautiful. The waters were a clear, crystal blue and the shore covered in beautiful, multi-colored sea shells. If there was one place I would go back and visit if I could, even for a day, it would be M’diq.