Enjoying the calm in Rabat

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My first full day in Rabat kicked off with mint tea and croissant for breakfast, followed by a long walk up to the Roman ruins of Chelah on the outskirts of Rabat. The crumbling ruins made for intriguing exploration, accompanied by the soundtrack of clacking from the hundreds of storks that have come to nestle in there. Here I met a chap called Dan from near Gothenburg, Sweden, who was passing through Rabat on an epic journey south into Western Africa. He seemed unperturbed by the minefield he'd be encountering in the Western Sahara, and had another two months to go as far south as possible.

With the crashing waves of the Atlantic on my doorstep, I decided to take my first ever surfing lesson at the Oudayas Surf Club. Given the instructors basic grasp of the English language, and my very basic grasp of French, the lesson was a little difficult, but hugely enjoyable. I was definitely returning for a second lesson. At the surfing lessons I got chatting to a fellow pupil and local girl Inis. Fortunately my crap French was unnecessary as she spoke perfect English. We arranged to meet the next day so that she could show me around the city.

Curiously, in my second surfing lesson the next day I was even worse, though I did probably provide some amusement to the other students when I fell off and received a hefty blow to the face from the unmanned surfboard being tossed around in the waves.

After meeting up with Inis she showed me around the Kasbah de Oudaias, much more compact than Marrakech's Kasbah, and much more beautiful. Narrow corridors criss-crossed the place with pristine white and blue walls, opening out to a viewing platform looking across the bay to nearby Sale. Walking around and exploring Rabat was so much calmer and easier than Marrakech, the absolute lack of hassle from locals was a revelation.

The rest of the day was spent chilling out on Rabat's beach, recovering from the exhausting surf lesson and miles of walking I had done. It was far from the cleanest beach I'd ever been on, but I didn't much care as I drifted off to a relaxed state with the warm sand around my toes and the waves crashing away in the background.

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Photos

Inside the Kasbah
A maze of beautifully perfect white and blue buildings

Posing in the Kasbah
Myself and Ines in the Kasbah