The city’s morning chaos is in full swing when we leave Casablanca, bound for Fez with a day’s journey ahead of us. Still jet-lagged, we breakfast and check out, the group quiet but excited to be on the road under the clear blue skies. Our 15 person mini-bus is perfect for the group of nine, plenty of room to spread out and find a comfortable spot for the sometimes long-hours of driving we know are ahead.

As the buildings and intersections fade behind us and the countryside begins to scroll across the shaded windows (it’s hot out there!), everyday life in Morocco changes. The busy streets and petit taxis are a memory, replaced by small farms dotting the landscape. Shepherds tend their goats and sheep with the help of the family dog, and others toil in the fields of golden wheat as the road narrows to two lanes. There is chatter among us as we get to know each other, passing time quickly over the two hour drive before our first stop.

Adil tells us about our destination – the city of Meknes – as we ramble along.  We are stopping at Volubilis, Berber-Roman ruins that date mostly from the 1st and 2nd century AD, although occupation of the area goes back to 300 BC. It’s one of those places that we all wonder “where are we going, exactly?” as none of us have ever heard of it. What an amazing surprise to discover this ancient city! Its memory is preserved in the stone walls, narrow streets and colorful mosaics. As we wind our way through what was once a vibrant city, it’s not hard to imagine the conversations had over the pressing of olive oil, in the community forum, or even around the public latrine…

The mosaics are definitely the highlight. They adorn the floors of wealthy homes, somewhat faded now and dusty from the blown dirt and sands of the gentle hill, yet they echo with the voices of long past and tell the stories of characters within. Faith…myth…legend…art. 

Our minds still imagining life as an ancient Roman, the road beckons us to continue our journey to Fez. We have many miles ahead and need to have lunch…shall we make like Romans before we continue? Wine and too much food under a giant fig tree, flanked by vineyards alive with early-season green is…perfect.  

We stop at Domain de la Zouina, an idyllic setting that feels like the Loire Valley (i’d throw in a California reference there, but the winery is indeed French in style and production). We are greeted warmly, and taken to the garden, seated in the shade for wine tasting along with our meal…that just keeps coming. Breads, moroccan salad, a red pepper tapenade, eggplant tapenade…rose, chardonnay, syrah, cabernet sauvignon…roasted vegetables…tagine…goat cheese of varying ages…fruit. More and more on the table, all of it so delicious! And the wine was quite good and kept flowing. It’s a good day 🌞

We then took a tour of the winery, our host talking about the winery’s history and their wine-making techniques. For us wine buffs, it’s not terribly unique, except that they do a lot of fermentation in giant concrete tanks – square, poured-concrete giant boxes with low access panels and pipes for moving the wine to barrels for aging. 

As our tour winds down, we are reminded that tomorrow night we will be in the desert where no alcohol is available so we buy some wine for the road.  “…how much?” “400 dirhams…” That’s about $40 and we have three bottles!

Our drive continues, through small towns and barren landscape, past gendarmerie checkpoints (more on that in a future post) and finally into the city of Fez [Fes]. It’s a far cry from Casablanca – beautiful tree-lined avenues, noticeably vibrant and thriving even at first glance. It is somehow instantly refreshing (which is, perhaps, simply arriving at our destination after a long drive).

Down a wide boulevard, through some narrow city streets past many construction sites and up the hill, we arrive at our hotel, weary from the long day and at the same time excited to park for a couple nights. As we are greeted we all remark on how nice the hotel is, modern and stylish, with incredible views over the city as the sun sets.  We sipped an evening cocktail, reminiscing on the day and wondering what this magical place of Fes has in store for us tomorrow…