Meknes

Volubilis

On our way to Meknes we stopped by the archeological site of Volubilis… Morocco is full of UNESCO sites and this happens to be one of them. After winding three mountains and asking 5 farmers which way, I was starting to lose interest. Then we turned a corner, and lo and behold there it was. Wow, so breathtakingly beautiful.

Website quote: The Mauritanian capital, founded in the 3rd century B.C., became an important outpost of the Roman Empire and was graced with many fine buildings. Extensive remains of these survive in the archaeological site, located in a fertile agricultural area. Volubilis was later briefly to become the capital of Idris I, founder of the Idrisid dynasty, who is buried at nearby Moulay Idris.



Cool Fact: The name of Volubilis is known both from ancient texts and from the abundant epigraphic material from the site itself. Its origin is unknown but may be a Latinized version of the Berber name for the oleanderoualilt , which grows in profusion on the banks of Wadi Khoumane that runs round part of the site.



Sebastian's best friend is half Moroccan, so when Taki the monkey leapt into his lap to take a nap… he said "he know's I'm his brother."

Fes... {Part I}

I look at these pictures and still can't believe this is my life… never in a million years did I ever dream I'd be able to see such wonders and beauty in the world with my own eyes, with my own lens, with my own family... wow, God is good!

This view was the first stop on our tour of the imperial city of Fes, arguably one of the most beautiful cities in Morocco. There are just over 320 mosques in this view alone.

Our next stop was a ceramic tour which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. It all starts form this piece of rock that he's holding…we found plenty in his jean pockets when we got home. Little did he know that the tile makers would going to give everyone a piece. 

This guy was super impressive. He made this little tagine while the kids sat there and he made the lid just by eyeballing it, and it fit perfectly. talk about skills!

Our buddy given us the whole spiel.

This picture reminds me of Hansel and Gretel.

These tile makers form every little shape with their hammers and make the entire design by imagination only…no drawings, patterns, or plans.

The even cooler part is that because they do this upside down, they have to remember it in their minds backwards. We were a little nervous with the kids around this portion of the tour because this design below takes about 2 years to complete and 10s of thousands of tiny pieces.

My girl got a cute heart…it's safe to say that she got special treatment because they think that I'm Moroccan with an American husband.

These artist go through years of training to be able to do this…after doing this tour it's easy to spot out the less seasoned ceramic artists work, especially after washing something. The colors will bleed if not properly baked and treated.

These colors are pastel looking now, but once they are put into the kiln, they will turn a beautiful much richer and darker versions of these colors…the blue especially, it's what vendors who are really trying hard to make a sell, refer to as the "blue of Fes".

although, I really enjoyed this part of the day, I know absolutely nothing about brass, but I gotta tell you that watching the craftsmanship of the brass artist was amazing.