Reflections on Rabat Morocco
Arriving in Morocco from France is really quite a mind trip! It is not a long flight.... you leave Europe and soon you see the African continent appear. Preparing to land in Casablanca you see hills marked "For King, For Country For Allah" . Entering through customs was a little challenging in Casablanca. Not the most efficient customs that I have been through but soon enough we were out of the airport and en route to Rabat.
The drive was not long and was certainly not chaotic. The Atlantic was visible to the west. Rabat, like Casablanca, is located on the Atlantic. It is the capital city and the royal seat. We stayed in a beautiful hotel not far from the center of Rabat. Modern trams and office buildings were up against old medinas (market places) and kasbahs (forts). Our Gate 1 tour started in Rabat and would make a huge circle around Morocco before winding up where we started in Casablanca.
My first solo walk about in Rabat was awesome. Here was a city that felt safe. The French and Arabic languages side by side helped with navigation. The center of town has a huge beautiful garden with a trail that leads to the medina or bazaar. The bazaar was not all that different from the ones in Turkey or "mercados/faiucas" in other countries. Bread, meat, fruits, veggies, cooked foods, underwear, jihabs, motorcycle parts and cell phones....all together in a market place that is 650 years old. Yeah WAY cool!
The next day or so brought us closer to Rabat.....
Chellah (Arabic: شالة) or the old Roman city of Sala Colonia Mauretania Tingitana that eventually became Phonecian, then Moor and then Andalucian....was a great place to visit with various overlays of culture and history that make this part of the world fascinating.
The Tomb of Mohammad V was interesting more for the Roman ruins destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake than anything else. the archecture was stunning and the royal guards reminded me of the Vatican with the Swiss Guards.
The Kasbah of the Udayas dates back to 1150 CE and is not only stunning on the outside but inside exisits a world of Andalusian gardens, tea houses, mosques and small shops that were truly unique.
This was a great place to really launch into our tour of Morocco. It was also clear to me after exploring the Kasbah that this was NOT going to be anything at all like Turkey. I loved Turkey and thought that perhaps Morocco would be similar but there are few similarities and Morocco would stand on its own.
Outside of the Kasbah was a Muslim, Christian and Jewish cemetary area followed by a massive long beach, Plage de Rabat, where we watched surfers attempting to surf some of the craziest waves we've seen in a LONG time. A delegation of French and Subsaharan Africans were also enjoying the beach creating a melange of color, sound and culture all on a beach in the shadow of a massive Kasbah.
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