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Published: June 18th 2006
Route
Fes to Rabat by train. 3ish hours.Salaam and welcome to Rabat the capital of Morocco. According to the Lonely Planet this is a place where you come to undertake essential business and rest from life on the African road. We have found it to be more of a place where you can see how Morocco really works, how people make their money and how rich and poor collide in a city deviod of the tourist scene that dominates both Fes and Marrakech.
Alice fell for Rabat almost immediately while I took a while to come around to it's charms. The feeling of being utterly faceless was strange at first, particularly after the interest shown towards us in Fes. Once we got over this we found we could use it very much to our advantage by blending in with the bustling crowds of the city and really exploring how Moroccans (on either side of the bread-line) live.
The city is a place of real contrasts, this could not be more evident of Avenue Mohammed V which runs for a couple of kilometres through the city centre. At the southern end, where we got off the train it is a wide, almost Parisien street with a large central reservation
and huge French colonial style buildings. This is where the banks and government buldings are housed and, although not without the standard African rough-and-ready feel, it is very cosmopolitan. This same street over the next 1000 metres first narrows to an area more reminiscent of the rougher parts of UK cities. Unimaginitive concrete bulding house cheap clothes shops and internet cafes. The road then goes through it's final transformation as it reaches the medina were it becomes dusty and roughly paved, shops are replaced with tiny stalls and hawkers selling their wares from mats on the floor.
We saw shoes for sale in the 'posh' end of town for 2999Dhs where the average monthy wage is aroung 2000Dhs and then we ate dinner in the medina for 5Dhs, the rich poor divide in this city is very much more apparent than we saw in Fes.
One huge relief that Rabat bought was the cool sea breezes and the opportunity for swimming that the Atlantic Ocean bought. After the sweat that was induced by Fes it was a great feeling to have the breeze in our hair (and showers after the lack of them for 5 days).
We spend three days
Sucking it in
My face by the sea in Rabat, wondering around - not being noticed. Highlights were definately the swimming and a eating boiled potato, hardboiled egg and spreadable cheese sandwiches. They're availible wherever you see acrid smoke filling the air and a crate behind the stall to eat them on is inclusive of the 30p price tag - delicious.
After a day on the beach we packed and left our pink room bound for Marrakech on the train, but that's another story for another blog.
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Graham
non-member comment
Africa at Last
Chris (and Alice) Glad to see you've finally made Africa. Don't forget to look out for the snakes and send any nice ones to me for safe keeping. Enjoy your adventure and keep posting. Graham (still not Mr. C).