Volubilis was a nice site which gave a good impression of everyday life in a Roman outpost; however my main recollection of it is of the incredible heat during our visit.

We could see the ruins from some way back as our taxi wound its way to the site which was once one of the remotest outposts of the Roman Empire. Once there you could get a real feel for the lay out of the town, and he functions of different districts, including the rebuilt olive presses in the former industrial areas. The former houses are decorated with some mosaics, several are impressive, though I have the feeling they aren't coping too well with being consistently exposed to the bright sunlight as the colours are looking rather muted. It did give a good idea of what life in a Roman town was like.

After hiding in the shade of the larger ruins at the capitol we headed back to our taxi, stopping to dowse ourselves in water and view the promising looking new visitor's centre which seemed to be nearing completion. We stopped to get some more drinks at the shabby old restaurant and I must admit my heart went out to the staff there. They were sprawled on the floor trying to make it through their Ramadan fast in the astonishing heat; I would have felt even guiltier about drinking their soft drinks if I wasn't feeling so unwell myself from the heat. All in, we got through 3 litres of fluids each during our brief visit. I couldn't have felt further away from my previous visit to a Roman outpost on a damp drizzly hike along Hadrian's Wall, which I guess really illustrates how big the realm once was.

We headed off in our taxi to nearby Moulay Idriss where it had cooled down to a nippy 47*C and the cool shaded alleys offered somewhere to cool off from the dizzying onset of potential heatstroke.

I enjoyed my trip to this former Roman outpost, and it was pretty easy to get an idea of what life would have been like there. A combined trip to Volubilis and Moulay Idriss by either a shared or chartered taxi it is a worthwhile day trip from Meknes or even Fez. If you do visit at the height of summer though remember to take vast quantities of fluids.

[Site 6: Experience 5]