My first Moroccan everything...

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Rabat is the capital of Morocco (dont worry, I also thought that Casablanca was the capital up until a year ago, and I am Miss Geography...) and is completly underrated as a travel destination. From the moment I arrived, I absolutely fell in love with this city (P.S. as I am typing this, I can hear donkeys eee-awing in the background, complete donkey heaven).

Rabat is the most recent imperial city and home to the many palaces of the current king, Mohammed VI. It is a very strange feeling to enter into every single place in the city and see pictures of the King everywhere, and I mean everywhere. From grocery stores, to markets, to restaurants, there is Mohammed VI. And he is very respected amongst Moroccans.

On my first night in Rabat, I experienced my first hammam. A hammam is a traditional Moroccan spa experience. You enter into a room specially designed for this (Kenza has one in her house, although most Moroccan homes do not have one), where this is special tile on the floor and walls. The room is heated to a temperature slightly below that of a sauna, and you are supposed to sit there naked until you get hot. Then when you are ready, someone comes in and completely scrubs you from head to toe. Once the exfoliation process is done, they soap you up and massage you. It is absolute bliss. I am already begging my parents to have one installed in our house in Montreal...

My first full day in Rabat started off in a regal way, with a visit to the Royal Palace. Although we were not allowed inside, I still managed to get a picture with the Royal guards. I kinda peeked behind them to see, but they send you away faster than you think. They are very protective here, and obviously everywhere, of their king. Mohammed VI does not live there though, he lives in another palace closer to where I am staying now.

After the Royal Palace, we drove to Chellah, which is a Roman city in Rabat that dates to the Roman times. The entire place is surrounded by thick walls, which house inside the most beautiful gardens where the scent of jasmine permeates the air. As you walk through the gardens, we saw the remains of Roman houses and statues. There are the grave sites of several important, unknown though, as there are no signs anywhere telling you what anything is or supposed to represent.

Then onto the most beautiful place of Rabat, the Hassan Mosque. It was the first time I had ever been to the site of a mosque, and this one is pretty impressive. It dates back almost a thousand years, but an earthquake a few hundred years ago destroyed much of it, including the roof of the site and most of the pillars holding it up. It was rebuilt by the Alaouite Dynasty, and now houses many mausoleums, including the tombs of the past kings of the current dynasty, including Hassan II and Mohammed V.

As we left the mosque, I had my first drink of water from a guerrab. He is the Moroccan version of a travelling water cooler, but way cooler. He is dressed in traditional gear and walks around the streets dispensing water flavored with essential oils. It costs only a few dirhams to drink from this, but the experience is defienetely worth having.

A tour of Rabat wouldn't be complete without a stop at the souk, which is where all the markets are. The souk is located in the old medina, that is, the oldest part of town. It consists of hundreds of little shops, with vendors selling everything from babbouch (traditional slippers), to silver jewellery, to food, to decorative everything. I absolutely adore markets, and this one was definetely up there. This is where the locals come to make all their purchases, and we, well more like I, definetely stood out, but everyone was really pleasant. You really have to bargain with these merchants, and they are definetely harder on tourists. Luckily I was with two Moroccans, and it was only because of them that I got such good deals on the things I bought, they wanted to charge me more than double than I paid for any of my things.

Then it was onto the Oudaya, the Spanish/Portuguese part of the old city. This is where I officially fell in love with Rabat. It is located high above the city, with views of both Rabat and Salé (the 450 of Rabat), and their respective beaches. To get to the lookout though, we went through these little streets where all the buildings are painted in white, except for the bottom which is either blue or green. The streets are quaint, lined with the most beautiful doors, and you could see children playing everywhere. I'm not sure why, but the Oudaya had the most romantic feel to it. It is also where I tasted my first Moroccan mint tea and Moroccan pastries. Both sweet and delicious.

And the day was finished off with obviously my first Moroccan clubbing experience. Kenza and her friends took me out to the Reservoir, a lounge near their house, which they insist on calling a pub, even though it is probably the furthest thing away from any pub I have ever seen. Lest to say, I was the only foreigner inside and initially got many stares, but the novelty quickly wore off and we danced the night away.

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Comments

[Deanna]

Hey Cristina, Sounds like a beautiful place. I am a envious of all these wonders you are seeing. Is there anyway you can add some pictures on? Keep enjoying your adventures and I agree your parents should install a hammam. Take care Love Deanna

[Tania]

Hey chica, sounds like you had a much more glam experience in Morocco than I did! But then you are the more glam girl....Jealous, wish i would have done more things like you, but camel ride in a parking lot!? I got you there, doesn't beat my two 1 hour rides in the Sahara. miss you!