We drove from Chefchaouen to Mawlay Idris, which we had to view from above and outside the shrine since it is a Holy city with limited access to non-muslims and then on to Volubilis in the late afternoon which is apparently the ideal time to see it, when the sun is low in the sky and all the shadows are elongated.

I found this potted history on an internet site:

“In antiquity, Volubilis was an important Roman town situated near the westernmost border of Roman conquests. It was built on the site of a previous Carthaginian settlement from (at the latest) the third century BC, but that settlement overlies an earlier neolithic habitation.

Volubilis was the administrative center of the province in Roman Africa called Mauretania Tingitana. The fertile lands of the province produced many commodities such as grain and olive oil, which were exported to Rome, contributing to the province's wealth and prosperity.

The Romans evacuated most of Morocco at the end of the 3rd century AD but, unlike some other Roman cities, Volubilis was not abandoned. However, it appears to have been destroyed by an earthquake in the late fourth century AD. It was reoccupied in the sixth century, when a small group of tombstones written in Latin shows the existence of a community that still dated its foundation by the year of the Roman province. Coins show that it was occupied under the Abbasids: a number of these simply bear the name Walila.

The texts referring to the arrival of Idris I in 788 show that the town was at that point in the control of the Awraba tribe, who welcomed the descendant of Ali, and declared him imam shortly thereafter. Within three years he had consolidated his hold on much of the area, founded the first settlement at Fez , and started minting coins. He died in 791, leaving a pregnant Awraba wife, Kenza, and his faithful slave, Rashid, who acted as regent until the majority of Idris II. At this point the court departed for Fez, leaving the Awraba in control of the town.”

There are quite a number of arches and pillars left standing along with an amazing array of mosaic floors which have been left open to the weather with nothing but rope barriers to prevent tourists trampling all over them.

When my eldest daughter, who joined me in Malta after she had done back to back tours of Morocco, said that she had had enough of stumbling around Roman ruins (see mdina) I suspect that she had Volubilis in mind. It covers quite a large area and a great deal of it is randomly scattered, probably due to cannibalization of the stone for other buildings.

Near the entrance the government is building something which could be a museum, offices, hotel or conference centre … there was no information as to exactly what it is going to be. In the meanwhile nothing is being done to preserve the mosaics.

As is usual in tourist spots in Morocco, the public toilets were in a rather dire condition with the ubiquitous attendant selling bright pink toilet paper by the millimetre. I know that people have to make a living but I would have preferred instead to provide my own paper and pay to have the toilets cleaned, unblocked and properly maintained. This lot were the worst I encountered in Morocco.