Morocco is at the other end of the spectrum. We can trace Moroccan history back for thousands of years, and the remnants of these earlier cultures are still very visible. Two of my favorite sites on this trip were the ruins at Volubilis and Chellah. In Chellah you can actually see two sets of ruins: the first are from the Arab dynasty of the 13th century, but right beside these are Roman ruins from the 2nd century. A thousand years ago Arabs stood at this site and looked out at Roman ruins that were a thousand years old. The span of time is inconceivable to me.
It bends my mind to walk among buildings that are thousands of years old, looking out over a landscape that is essentially unchanged. Did the people who stood in the places where I now stand have similar thoughts and emotions? If we are all so closely linked to these common ancestors then surely the divisions and obstacles of our modern world are figments of our own creation.