More Roman Ruins

Morocco is certainly the place to see Roman ruins. Today we visited the ancient Roman city of Sala Colonia at Chellah just on the outskirts of Rabat. It was a compact but very impressive Roman city. There was no restoration and you made your own way around the site.

We saw the ruins of the Jupiter temple; the triple arched entrance; the forum and pools.

Behind this was the ruined Islamic site with a minaret; medersa and tombs. There was even a special pool where infertile women fed eggs to the eels. There were also dozens of cats who were certainly not infertile.

A fascinating aspect of the visit is that the surrounding area is overrun with storks and ibis. There were storks nests everywhere. It was like the setting for an Indiana Jones movie.

We also visited the Hassan Tower built in 1195 and the mausoleum of Mohammed V. This was an impressive place to visit and there were soldiers in traditional uniform around the mausoleum. We arrived just at the changing of the horse guard.

In the afternoon we visited the Archaeological Museum and saw marble statues; bronze artefacts and jewellery and pottery from various sites including Chellah and Volubilis. There were also skulls of homo erectus and other oldies.

A wonderful day. We are off to Casablanca tomorrow.