Lixus and Larache

One Of The Oldest Phoenician And Later Roman Sites In Morocco, With Salting Vats Built For The Fish Sauce Trade, Above The Estuary Beside The Spanish Era Port Town Of Larache · Larache, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima

Lixus sits on a low hill above the Loukkos estuary about 4 km from Larache, and it is one of the oldest settled sites in Morocco: a Phoenician trading post that became a Roman town, with a layer of early Islamic building on top. What survives best is the industry. At the foot of the hill beside the road stands a large group of stone vats where fish was salted and fermented into the sauce the ancient Mediterranean ran on, commonly described as among the biggest such works known in the western Mediterranean. Above them a theatre and bath complex, the city wall and an acropolis of temples look out over the river, the storks and the salt marsh. Ancient writers put Hercules' garden of the Hesperides here, which is a legend worth knowing and not a fact. Honest caveats: Lixus is largely unfenced, unlabelled and overgrown, there is often nobody there at all, and a visitor who comes expecting Volubilis will leave disappointed - this is a site for people who enjoy ruins they have to read for themselves.

Hilltop archaeological site above the Loukkos estuary on the N1, about 4 km north-east of Larache, Larache, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Morocco

Lixus is an open hillside rather than a managed monument: there is no building, no shop and no fixed timetable, and in practice it is visited in daylight, roughly 9:00 to sunset. A guardian is often on site and will show you the vats, the theatre and the acropolis for a tip; sometimes nobody is there at all and you simply walk in. A ticket has been charged at some times and not at others, so carry small notes and confirm on the day. Nothing can be booked ahead. Getting there: the site is on the N1 about 4 km north-east of Larache, reached by petit taxi from the town in a few minutes, by any grand taxi heading north if you ask to be dropped at the ruins, or by hired car with space to pull off beside the vats. Larache itself is roughly 40 minutes from Asilah, about 1.5 hours from Tangier and about 2 hours from Rabat. Expect shorter kitchen and museum hours in Larache during Ramadan.

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