The picturesque whitewashed town of Moulay Idriss is one of Morocco's most important pilgrimage sites. It's named for Moulay Idriss, a great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Idris the first (Idris I) was the founder of Morocco's first real dynasty and is the country's most revered saint. He fled Mecca in the late 8th Century because of persecution at the hands of the recently installed Abbasid caliphate (a islamic state led by a caliph) which was based in Baghdad.

Idriss settled at the nearby Roman town of Volubilis where he converted the locals to Islam and made himself their leader, establishing the Idrissed dynasty.
His mausoleum is just off the main square of the town a sacred destination that is open only to Muslims.. The town of Moulay Idriss was considered sacred and was closed to non-Muslims until the mid 20th century and non-Muslims could not stay overnight until 2005.

The nearby ruins of the Roman settlement of Volubilis gives a real sense of being in Africa – as well as a flash of what Roman Africa might have felt like. Volubilis was also one of the few places where I saw a dog roaming freely. I think he may have been a guard dog but he definitely seemed to like having his photo taken as he wandered into my shots a couple of times.