Rabat - Capital of Morocco and our favourite so far

It was with a small feeling of sadness that we arrived in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. The reason for this being that we were going to be parting ways with our travel companions for the past week; Bianca and Matteo. We initially left left our bikes and luggage on Gustav, whilst we looked for somewhere to stay, and they went and explored Rabat. We would then later meet them back at the van to unpack and say good bye.

So we headed off our seperate ways. Unfortunately our search was not nearly as easy as we were expecting. We really struggled to find internet cafes, so instead ended up going to a cafe and ordering some drinks to use their wi-fi. I was finally able to have a hot chocolate, which I had been craving for a couple of weeks and been unable to find in the supermarkets.

Here we looked up accommodation and eventually found a few options over in Sale, the neighbouring city just across the river. Although more expensive than anything we had paid thus far, and more expensive than we wanted to pay, it was cheaper than staying in Rabat. We booked for 2 nights and then headed off to have a look around some more of Rabat before Bianca and Matteo called us.

We decided to explore some of the medina whilst we were there and found it quite relaxed and quiet in comparison to other big city medina's so far. Following this we headed to the river and visited the Kasbah Udayas. The Kasbah was a beautiful place, blue walls and little dead end streets snaking everywhere, it was a really quiet little community, seperated from the main city. Whilst we were in there we had a man come up to us and try and guide us around, but we eventually got rid of him without parting with any of our money either (although he asked for some).

Kasbah Udayas from the outside

Inside the winding streets of Kasbah Udayas

We explored all over and found a nice sitting area which overlooked the river, but this was very crowded with tourists having mint tea and some moroccan pastries so we didn't stay long, just got a picture and went. We eventually found our way to the courtyard in the Kasbah which was a lovely peaceful area where there were not many tourists and more locals sitting and singing or studying and it was really nice to just sit and enjoy the tranquil atmosphere (especially the guitar and singing).

The courtyard in Kasbah Udayas

Another section of the courtyard

Afterwards we headed down the coast back to the van to meet up with bianca and matteo. It was perfect timing actually as they called us just as we were making our way back. They were then very kind to give us a lift with them across to Sale, where they dropped us off and unpacked our bits. Then we said a sad farewell before parting for the last time (although we hope to meet up with them sometime in the future).

After making it to our accommodation, and eventually getting inside after half an hour of waiting at the door (this was to become quite common over the next few days), we were shown around and it was a lovely riad, the nicest we had been in so far in morocco! We glady accepted to stay and got settled in for the night.

The next day we went down for breakfast and had a real feast, two types of pancake and a semolina bread each with butter and jam plus coffee, orange juice and olives, our best breakfast in morocco so far too! We were so pleased with this we decided to stay an extra night to enjoy and relax in the Rabat-Sale area as it was really nice. We also got a reduced rate, which added to our delight!

Our destination for the day was Rabat. Our first stop was the Hassan Tower. Construction for the tower started in 1195 but was never actually finished. At the time when it was being constructed it was planned to be the largest Mosque in the world, with the tallest Minaret in the world as well. The tower had some nice views from outside it, just a shame it could never be seen how it was meant to. It also meant you couldn't go up inside it were not able to see the view from the top, which would have been truly magnificent.

The incomplete Hassan Tower

Next up we headed into the Mohammed V Mausoleum, which is right next door, and I got my picture taken with the horse guards.

Me with the guards outside the Mohammed V Mausoleum

Getting to see inside the mausoleum was quite a privilege for us as it is one of the few that non-muslims are allowed to go inside of. It was amazingly decorated with loads of carvings and gold decorations, there was even a muslim vicar inside next to the Qu'ran who presumably did readings at different times throughout the day, although we didn't hear him. There were also guards inside as well who took my camera away, but gave it back after checking I hadn't taken any pictures of things I shouldn't have.

Inside Mohammed V Mausoleum

Next we headed for some ancient ruins, just on the outskirts of the city, a place called Chellah. Chellah was a Roman city originally, and was then later used by the muslims as a necropolis. Chellah was one of our favourite sites in Rabat as it was outside, and not very touristy, and we could just explore it at our own leisure, enjoying the peacefulness of it. It was interesting to see where different parts of buildings had been before. We spent a good hour or so there before heading off

Inside the city/necropolis of Chellah

We then headed towards the Royal Palace but found that we could not see it due to it being not allowed on that day at that time, they instead said to come back tomorrow. This was a bit disappointing for us, but we couldn't do much about it. So instead we headed back into town where we explored a bit of the new part of the city where the university and grand mosque were. We also saw where a protest had been, as some of the banners were still up. This also helped to explain why we had seen so many police all over the city.

Banners outside the parliament building where the protest had been

We eventually made it back to the medina of Rabat where we had a nice traditional Moroccan soup called harira, which is made with­­­­­­­ chickpeas, noddles and some spices, it was really nice, and just what we needed as we missed lunch.

Then we started to head back out of the medina along a different street, and that is when we found the real food section of the medina. Pastries, doughnuts, pancakes, fresh fruit and veg, nuts, spices in stalls all along the street, olives piled high and freshly grilled meat sizzling away, your senses were hit from all sides. We immediately bought two doughnuts for a very cheap price (even in Morocco), before deciding to use the tram to get back across the river to sale to see what their public transport is like. It was a great experience, clean, modern, friendly staff and a couple of lovely people on the tram who stopped the door for us as we were going to miss the tram. So all in all, a big thumbs up to Rabat public transport.

Rabat's tram - very nice!

We got off in sale, bought some salad bits from the supermarket and headed back to our room. Later that night we made the salad, which I was very excited about as I really wanted an avocado salad, as I really enjoyed our one the previous night. Unfortunately the next day proved that this was a very bad idea!

The next morning I woke at 5am to a very painful stomach, causing me to dash off to the bathroom. After a long period of time in there I went back to bed, although I was unable to really sleep properly, waking every 15 minutes due to the pain. I then headed to the bathroom again at around 9am where the pain was much better reduced. Then feeling a bit better I thought some breakfast would be a good idea to help settle the stomach and get rid of a horrible oily feeling in my throat. After breakfast however it only got worse. My stomach became very painful and bloated, it felt like something was trying to push its way out through my belly. This was not helped at all by two more trips to the bathroom.

We therefore decided to add another night onto our stay as I wasn't really doing much better and didn't think it would be a good idea to leave the next day. Then a bit later whilst laying in bed I had a few seconds to quickly get Carmen to grab me a bucket before I was sick several times in quick succession. This really helped more than anything else so far, making me think I was going to be okay now. But the pain returned shortly after, until I was sick several more times in quick succession, and then again the pain was gone, and the discomfort got better and better as time went on. By the next morning I was totally fine. A lesson to be learned about ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­eating too much avocado; as we learned it was due to this!

This day was a slightly more relaxed day as we went on a nice leisurely stroll around the Sale medina. We saw the Sale mosque and entered a little Medersa (Ku'ranic School) ), which was quite interesting, seeing all the tiny dormitory rooms, and seeing a very small version of what the inside of a mosque looks like, as they had one inside the medersa. There were some lovely views from the roof of the medersa too. A very enlightening visit.

The view from the roof of the Medersa in Sale

We also booked a flight back to England that night as my Grandad had died, and I wanted to go back for the funeral, so we arranged a flight for 10 days time, the day before his funeral. This would allow us time to travel to a few more places that we wanted to visit in Morocco before getting our flight back from Fes, 200km away. The following day we were to set off for Meknes to continue our journey, but also to see how Carmen's knee would cop.