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Excursions From Fez

Due to its location between The Rif Mountains and The Middle-Atlas, Fez offers many possibilities of very interesting excursions. First, explore Meknes, a former capital whose medina walls are adorned with exquisite gates considered among the best preserved in the Islamic World. The surrounding countryside reveals the near-perfectly preserved ruins of Volubilis, a thriving Roman settlement until the 4th century. Just beyond Volubilis lies the holy city of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, a scenic whitewashed town where the first Arab dynasty was founded in 787 AD. The therapeutic hot springs of the village of Moulay Yacoub draw Moroccans and foreigners alike. Nestled in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco, the delightfully picturesque town of Chefchaouen features a charming medina and inviting restaurants inviting restaurants serving delicious cuisine fusing Moroccan and Spanish flavors. You’ll wander entranced within the soft blue labyrinth created by the tinted whitewash of the town’s homes and streets. Sefrou is a picturesque Berber town that once boasted one of Morocco’s largest Jewish communities. Complete your spiritual journey through antiquity in Bhalil, an ancient Christian village.

The Imperial City of Meknes(a UnescoWorld Heritage)Here we shall visit the easily most beautiful Bab, or gateway, in all of the Maghreb – the Bab Mansour. From here to the El Heri es-Souani – the granary of huge vaulted structures and stables built by Moulay Ismail’s soldiers next to a pool fed by underground channels that brought fresh water all the way from the distant Middle Atlas Mountains; the Moulay Ismail Mausoleum and the Place el-Hedim to see the famous State-owned stallion stables of Haras where these Arabo-Berber horses are bred.Roman ruins at Volubilis , the Volubilis of really ancient olive presses, mansions, incredible mosaics, monumental arches and Corinthian columns where you’ll have a real sense of Roman lifestyle and of that of a subsequent medieval Berber town. The site contains the Mansion containing the mosaic of the Labours of Hercules, the Baths of Gallienus and Baths of Forum with their fragmentary mosaics; the House of Orpheus and its Dolphin mosaic and Orpheus Myth; the Cortege of Venus many of whose mosaics we may only see from the outside yet will get to se the medallions of Bacchus, Diana and the Abduction of Hylas; the Gordian Palace with its bath house and pooled courtyards; the House of the Wild Beast, the House of Nymphs, the House of the Seasons, the House of Flavius Germanus, the Knight’s House with an incomplete mosaic of Dionysus Discovering Ariadne Asleep, the Triumphal Arch , the Capitol and the House of Ephebus with its pictorial mosaics, especially that of Bacchus Being drawn in a Chariot by Panthers. The Zerhoun Hills to stop for a visit of the town of Moulay Idriss , the holiest Islamic town in the kingdom of Morocco, where thousands of Moroccan faithful come on pilgrimage (moussem) every August to pray at the tomb of this descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Arriving at the elongated square we see above us the green-tiled pyramids of the Zaouia with its two conical quarters on either side and stroll amidst the labyrinth of alleyways.Sefrou, this 1 st century town is calm and relatively unspoiled, with ochre pisé walls and turrets and nine ‘Babs’, or gateways. We make a short stop to visit the 8 th. Century Ksar el Kelaa , once the barracks of the Berber army of Moulay Idriss I, with its old, thick-walled pisé homes and cobble-stoned lanes dominating the ‘newer’ town, passing by the small medina and maze-like Mellah , or old Jewish Quarter, for here there had been, since pre-Islamic times, a large Berber population converted to Judaism by roving missionaries living alongside the unrepentant Berber peoples. The town, known for its olive and cherry production, holds a large Fêtes Des Cerises in June, and other smaller festivities throughout the year.Bhalil – meaning “Beauty of the Night” - claims ancient Christian origins, predating Islam, from those Christian soldiers of the Roman Second Legion fleeing persecution of their latest Emperor. The cobble-stoned alleyways and streets are a mixture of some ancient but still-occupied troglodyte homes, and some 1500 pisé and stone block homes of 2 or 3 simple rooms in pastel hues of pink, blue and yellow with more modern blue and white wash houses. You’ll see small, elegant stone bridges and women washing clothes and carpets in the communal basin, or at the seasonal river. All provide for a picturesque scene of local Berber village life.The Middle Atlas Mountain Ranges, after some 30 minutes we pass by the Kandar Massif (1768m) to arrive at the small 1920s French-built hill station of Immouzzer du Kandar (1220m), perched on the limestone edge of the Saïss Plateau.The volcanic freshwater lake of the Dayet Aaoua a large variety of dragonfly and damselfly, as with resident and migratory birds, such as heron, stork, sandpiper, avocet, grebe and egret; duck and coot; wagtail, sand martin and swallow; jay, bluetit, lark, warbler; buzzard and kite. Ifrane, this squeaky-clean Moroccan pseudo-Swiss town, with its slanted, russet-tiled roofs hidden amidst a forest of cedar, which cannot grow below 1600m.And the trailing edge of the Cedar Forest via the Mischliffen ski resort located in an extinct volcano’s crater to the first real town in the Middle Atlas - Azrou - which in the local Tamazight Berber dialect means “rock,” for, next to the mosque, is the massive outcrop from which this town takes its name.