Got up bright and early – well actually it wasn’t actually bright, it doesn’t really get bright here until about 0830 at the moment so it was ‘got up dark and early’ – this morning to pack our bags, grab a quick breakfast and hit the road.  We had a short ride in a private minibus to the Casablanca train station where we were heading to Rabat.  The plan was to spend the day in Rabat before grabbing a late lunch and then back to the train station to move on towards Mendes this afternoon.

Oddly enough, things went smoothly.  Mr K and I had bets on which group members would be the lollygaggers holding everyone up and we were both wrong!  Everyone was prompt and on time and it felt like our leader, Samirr was the one holding us up.  

We made it to Rabat around 10:00 and stashed all our luggage in a storage room in a nearby restaurant so we could all head off and explore the city.  Armed with a seriously dodgy map – you know the kind they make for tourists with little pictures on it and no scale so you have no idea how far away things are – we set out with a little too little information and a little too much optimism. 

For no sooner had we gotten about a km from all our things, it began to lightly drizzle.  Ho hum, so much for checking the weather report before we left!  I thanked past me for NOT throwing out those purple leather sneakers in Berlin (like I promised myself I would) and we just kept on wandering down through the marketplaces towards the Rabat Casbah… aka the Kasbah of the Udayas. 

The Casbah/Kasbah (it’s a tomayto/tomarto thing) is located at the mouth of the Bou Regreg river opposite Salé. The Kasbah is an 11th century fort with an incredibly long history that I won’t bore you with (go Google it if you are interested), but it remains an incredibly popular place to go check out the local history, as well as to get good views of the Bou Regreg, the Sale and the Atlantic Ocean.  It is also known for its beautiful blue and white walled winding streets, and the Andalusian Gardens.

It was a very cute part of Rabat to go wandering through – it has approximately 3000 residents currently, and possibly about 500 cats judging by what we saw today.  They’re everywhere, and all very well fed and happy looking critters.

t was a very cute part of Rabat to go wandering through – it has approximately 3000 residents currently, and possibly about 500 cats judging by what we saw today.  They’re everywhere, and all very well fed and happy looking critters. Andalusian Gardens

After the Kasbah, we went for a walk first through some markets and then along the river to find the Mausoleum of Mohammed V which is located directly opposite the Hassan Tower.  The mausoleum contains the tombs of King Hassan II and two of his sons.  The building is an example of the modern Alauouite dynasty architecture, having been built in 1971.  The late Hassan II was interred there after his death in 1999.

The Hasssan Tower which is directly opposite the mausoleum is actually the unfinished minaret of a mosque that was intended to be built in Rabat during the third Caliphate of Almohad in 1195.  The tower was planned to be the tallest/largest minaret in the world, along with an enormous mosque which was supposed to contemporarily be the largest mosque in the world, (what is it with the male preoccupation with size, Mr Ismay? Are you familiar with the works of Mr Freud?), however, when Abu Yusuf al-Mansur died barely four years later in 1199, construction on the mosque ceased. The tower, which was supposed to be some 86m tall only made it to 44m before the construction was abandoned.  All that remains today are the tower and the beginnings of some walls, and some 348 columns that were part way through being constructed.

By this point of our day, I was getting a little WTF?  As mentioned earlier, our dodgy tourist map hadn’t really laid out for us how far apart things were, and I had inadvertently been walking about 9kms on shitty uneven cobblestones for nearly three hours and my hips and lower back were getting decidedly unhappy with me.  So we decided to take a local tram to find St Peter’s Cathedral which is located at Golan Square right in downtown Rabat.  It was only built in 1919 and is in a rather bland Art Deco style… I know – I am decidedly hard to impress when it comes to churches and architecture, and this one left very little impression on me. It was designed by someone called Adrien Laforgue… and quite frankly Adrien, I feel you let us all down. When you have the sort of dish that the Catholic Church is prepared to throw at a thing like a new cathedral, you really should have been able to come up with something a bit more … well, just a bit more?!

After the briefest of visits to the church, we head back down to the cafe where our bags were stashed to find the rest of our tour group had pretty much beaten us back.  It seems they made it to the Kasbah (we kept running into several of them there) none of them bothered to go check out the mausoleum, the Hassan Tower or the St. Peter’s Cathedral… :/   when did we become the eager beaver, see all the things, tourists???  Oh well, will have to moderate our sightseeing in future because my fucking feet and hips were seriously not happy, Jan.

Anyway, we had a bit of lunch, which cleverly we had all ordered before we left for our walk, and made our way back to the train station.  There we caught a train to Mendes – about 2hrs 45mins from Rabat.  The train was clean and comfy, though the locals had a really shitty and fluid relationship to seat numbers, and we had to boot someone out of some of our allocated seats.  Whipping through the countryside was amazing… I have always associated Morocco with a desert landscape, and it is (in parts), but after having travelled quite a bit these last few months domestically in Australia through some of the most crunchy-looking, dusty, dry and dirty brown landscapes, I was not prepared for how lush and green the Moroccan countryside is.  It’s positively gorgeous.  Which makes me very sad for home right now, knowing that half the eastern seaboard is on fire.  :’(

Anyway, we arrived Mendes and here, we picked up some local taxis to take us to the town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun.  The town is spread over two hills at the base of Mount Zerhoun (elevation is about 500m), and is considered a holy town by the Moroccan people.  The town was started here in 789 by Moulay Idriss I who Brough Islam wit him and started a dynasty.  He also was the founder of the town of Fez (that will be tomorrow’s trick).

The town is quite small and compact, having about 1000 residents living in its winding narrow streets.  The entire town itself feels like a Medina (old medieval part of a modern town), and has sections of it that are considered sacred to Muslims such that non-Muslims may not enter.  We are staying in a guesthouse here for just one night, and the walk up to the place was incredibly hard considering I had already completely overdone it for one day.

Once we were here, I had to pull the pin on going for a walk around the town to see the buildings, the bakery, the mosque etc… instead Mr K took a pile of photos of me – primarily of the town at sunset – so that I wouldn’t get the total FOMOs.   I had to kick off my shoes and rest my lower back, which totally sucks!  Thankfully this seem to be one of the longest and most intense days on our itinerary, so it should get a bit easier from here.

After the walking tour of town and the sunset had been seen – our hosts made us the most delicious traditional Moroccan feast made of all local dishes and it was amazing!  There was locally made flat-ish bread, a meatball and egg Tagline dish, some curried chicken, a vegetable couscous dish, plus fresh single pressed olive oil from nearby fields, and homemade chilli past to spice it all up.  So much yum, and all so healthy with no preservatives and no sugary crap hiding in your food!  Makes me feel like a dreadful failure for neglecting my Emile Henry Tagine all these years… will have to rectify that when I get home!

After such a bloody long day, I am enjoying this heat pack as I write this up a little too much and can feel myself yawning like mad even though it’s not yet 22:00.  We don’t have a particularly early start tomorrow, but I have a feeling it’s going to be early to bed tonight as I am ready to crash!

Tomorrow a short tour of Mendes, and then onward to Fez… where I will have to try my hardest to STOP Mr K from deciding he needs to buy a fez in Fez.  *insert rolling of eyes here*