Of my favorite places we saw on Day 31, the 5th century Roman ruins in Volubilis tops the day. In the pictures, what you see is what is left of this once great city of Volubilis, one of the many cities controlled by the Romans.
From mosaics of Roman legends including Hercules, Medusa and Venus, you can still find them in tact over 2000 years later. They are still as beautiful now, as I can imagine they were then. Many of the mosaics uncovered have actually been restored.
In the slideshow, you will see a picture of a carving of a penis. I guess that deserves some sort of explanation. That stone carving was used to ‘point’ the direction to the nearest brothel. As you can also see, the penis is circumcised, which means that this certain brothel was for Jewish men.
While Hassan was showing me around his paradise of Volubilis, we ran across a few young couples sitting in the ruins talking to each other. As much as Hassan was annoyed by these young lovers that come from the college nearby, I snapped a photo of two of them (in the traditional sense…the woman’s face you cannot see).
In a way, when I think of Morocco, I think of this kind of quiet, very special romantic love shared in some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever feasted my eyes on. After all, watching the sun setting in Volubilis over the Roman ruins is something you’ll never forget. It adds to that special romantic charm.
After my tour, Hassan explained to me that every single day he gets to see this paradise of Volubilis, but that day, he said, “Looking at you has been paradise to my eyes.” Such a poet…but then again, that’s the kind of stuff I heard throughout this amazing country called Morocco. Do you blame me for wanting to move there permanently?
If you could spend every day seeing the beauty of paradise, hear someone tell you how beautiful you are, and spend it sitting next to someone your soul has intertwined in love with, watching the sun setting, the sun rising, and the stars in between…and feel God everywhere and love in every single person surrounding you…wouldn’t you feel absolutely complete?
As Driss and I drove away from Volubilis on our way to Fes, we spent the next hour watching the sun setting in the distance as we circled down the mountains. To see the sky changing colors against the Atlas Mountains in the distance, that is beauty beyond comparison. It’s a paradise of its own.
