James Went To Rabat, Morocco

Although I felt at home in Tangier by the end, especially in my rather nice hotel, it was time to move on to Rabat, the capital city of Morocco.

Plus I’d get to go on a faster train that I’d even been on in the UK. Yep, high speed rail in Africa. Maybe we’ll one day have high speed rail in the UK.

I didn’t take to Rabat at first.

Arriving at my hotel, my room had around 20 or so flies circling which was pretty grim. They changed my room to one that smelled of newly-sprayed cleaning spray with only one fly, which seemed reasonable enough.

And the area I was staying in was a bit dingy too, nothing overly bad but it was like going from Battersea to Croydon.

Exploring Rabat

Although my initial impression of Rabat wasn’t too enticing, I soon stumbled across a city with more soul than I expected, and quite a good vibe.

The city walls were remarkably well-kept, or at least renovated to a great standard.

And then there is the Kasbah of the Udayas – which looks similar to the Alcázar of Seville, and has an Andalucian garden inside. It was built in the 12th century, though the Andalusian influence came later from those expelled from Spain in the early 17th century.

I was going to do proper tourist things like visit this on the Tuesday, my full day in Rabat – of course I found out on the Tuesday that museums are closed on Tuesdays.

Also worth a visit in Rabat is the beach, where you can watch people trying to surf – and take a surfing lesson. Nah, it wasn’t for me.

What Is This Boat?

By day 4 of my trip to Morocco, I’d long given up hope for a beer in the sun, and continued my meandering around Rabat.

And I saw this traditional-style wooden boat in the marina. So I did what any sensible tourist would do and photograph it.

But on closer inspection, I saw two wine glasses being chinked. What was this wonder of the world?

Sure enough, I’d finally found somewhere to have a beer in the sunshine in Morocco. What’s more, they were playing house music too, at least until the DJ came on later…that definitely wasn’t house music. And I got chatting to someone that worked for the Dutch government who was pretty sound, we had a mutual loathing of Donald Trump, which isn’t exactly hard to find in a fellow European.

For my full day in Rabat, I had managed to book a guided tour that actually turned up. Late, to the point where I’d nearly given up, but he turned up and we had a 3 hour walk around Rabat, taking in more detail and history of the souk, back through the kasbah, and also to Hassan Tower – which was an attempt at building the largest minaret in the world. Construction was abandoned when Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur died in 1199, and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake later damaged what remained of the unfinished complex.

Kind Mohammed V

King Mohammed V was pretty important to Morocco – playing a key role in getting Moroccan independence back, primarily from the French, who controlled the main territory, with Spain holding the northern zone. Yeah, there’s a lot of interesting history and cultures combining in Morocco.

His resting place is the mausoleum – a stunning building.

And the other place our guide took us through was the souk, which I’d wandered through by myself already, which is very much locals going about their own business, buying their sugar cane drinks, food, etc – and hence I don’t have much in the way of photos as the space is fairly tight and busy, and I feel a bit awkward taking photographs of random people in front of me. In the distance, fine.

But used kettles are another matter:

I quite liked how orderly the souk was – very much a modern layout without the confusing layout of Tangier’s medina.

And that was about it for getting out and about – as I mentioned, the museums were closed on Tuesdays which was my one full day in Rabat, so it was back to the boat with my new-found Irish friends.

Eating Out in Rabat

Again I didn’t really eat out anywhere amazing in Rabat so this won’t be much help but I did try the local pea soup, which had subtly spicy tones.

I had a slice of fish pizza in the souk…hmmm…maybe not my thing, and then some fried chicken with cheese on elsewhere. Well, it was good enough for the locals, and I wasn’t feeling restaurant vibes.

The only other place I ate at was back at my hotel, which actually did pretty good food, albeit replete with cigarette smoke and people dancing to jazz. It did feel a bit like I imagine a hotel restaurant would have felt in the 1920’s under French rule.

I feel like I felt more at home in Rabat – the city had more soul than Tangier for my tastes, Tangier was nicer but Rabat had a different level of charm to it. I could do business in Tangier. But I’d rather live in Rabat.

There is more to discover here too, a second full day would have been ideal, and I didn’t really get to try any particularly nice restaurants, so again I don’t think I’ve explored the city enough.