Morocco, Spain, and Portugal Day 4: Rabat to Fez

What I like about an EF trip is getting to do a bunch of really different things. Today we visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Volubilis, first settled in the third century BC.

Morocco is still relatively new to tourism, which makes visiting it extraordinary and authentic. I suspect that in ten years, many things will inevitably change. You won’t be able to walk right up to ancient ruins or run your hands over the beautiful mosaic floors. The visitor center—nonexistent now—will likely be a sleek, modern building with interactive displays, but in the process, something valuable will be lost.

When you travel, you sometimes encounter ways of doing things that seem perfectly normal to locals but downright insane to tourists. Today, we hit a breaking point over the bathrooms: you have to pay a small coin to use them—but getting small coins is nearly impossible. If you buy something, you might get one of these valuable coins, but we’re using public restrooms three or four times a day. At one convenience store, the people who bought snacks first literally used the last coins in existence. When we tried to break a bigger bill, the cashier shrugged and said, “Credit card only—we’re out of change!” After a brief threat of mutiny, we finally solved the crisis by appointing our Arabic-speaking guide as Supreme Bathroom Tip Overlord. All is well now.