Morocco's Capital - Rabat

Martin with Street-Meat Vendor in Rabat

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We hadn't really planned on heading to Rabat, but thought we needed to go to plan our future journeys.  We were pleasantly surprised by Rabat though as it had a few impressive sights, and a good vibe to the town.
As is often the case, we arrived by local bus at a station far away from where we needed to be.  We then had to negotiate the throngs of taxi drivers and touts, to get to a city bus to head into town.  We were quite surprised that we didn't have many touts in town asking us it we are looking for food, or place to stay!!  We effortlessly found a decent place to stay in the medina and took off to stroll around the various souqs.  We found that Rabat just seemed to have a nice feel to it, and we found it easy to just stroll around.  The medina was easy to negotiate, and they had some interesting streets, and very importantly, they had a lot of good looking street food.  We felt like we needed to give plenty of the cheap eats a try.   So from flatbread stuffed with veggies and spice, to deep fried potato patties, to pastries, and my favourite - the grilled spiced lamb meat sandwiches pictured here - we tried them all.
On our first night, we walked through the impressive old medina walls, and along the small streets to accidentally arrive at an overlook at sunset.  It was a great view over the cemeteries, the beach, ocean, and across the river to the town of Sale. 

Guards at Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail

The next day, after haggling with fruit vendors for a good price, we set off for the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.  It took us hours of walking through souqs and along the riverfront to get there, but it was an impressive sight.  Firstly, the very noticeable Le Tour Hassan towers to 44m.  This enormous minaret was started in 1195, and was supposed to rise to 60m, making it the tallest in the Muslim world.  But, the sultan Yacoub al-Mansour died, and so did his dreams and it was abandoned at the present 44m.  The adjacent mosque was also destroyed in an earthquake in 1755, and all that is left are a bunch of columns around the square.  The base of the tower is huge though, so is still very impressive.  Also adjacent to the tower is the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.  The present kings father and grandfather are also buried there along with good old Mohammed V.  This place is guarded on each of the 4 doors, and inside the elaborately decorated building you can walk around a platform overlooking the tombs, with a man in the corner reading (singing) the Koran.  It was a moving sight and sound experience.  

Our tour of Rabat continued through all the various consulates, and on to the Chellah on the outskirts of the main city.  This impressive early walled city was built in 40 AD and was now mostly in ruins except for the ramparts.  There had been many additions to the city, and some of the newer portions were still somewhat intact, including the Muslim minaret.  Abandoned, it has now been taken over by nesting storks, and there is quite a flock of them there.  Must be in the hundreds and you see these huge wingspans soaring over the sight.  We were lucky to be there during mating season, and were able to witness and hearing the rituals.  First, both birds would clack their beaks together noisily and tilt their necks back contorting them into a weird shape.  Then, when both were ready I suppose, they got down to business.  All over the place you could hear the noisy beaks clacking away, which made quite a great soundtrack for our visit there.  The town was impressive and tranquil, but the storks really made it for us!!

Storks hanging out on Rampart of Chellah walls

On our final day, we tried to do some research and found out that flights around Africa are exceptionally expensive, even just to the next country.  Along with the fact we had been dealing with a lot of rain, and it appears that rainy season for the West is just around the corner, we have tentatively decided to head South sooner, and try to follow dry season down in the south and work our way North.  We'll see how it all shakes out, and we haven't bought any flights just yet.   *Stub