Rabat to Fez

We started off by being woken up around 5:30 this morning by the call to worship that is done on speakers nice and loud for the whole neighborhood to hear. Turns out it also wakes up the roosters, who do not go back to sleep.  We had set the alarm for 7am and did manage to fall back asleep.  We were served a nice breakfast of small pancakes and toasted bread with many jams.  Also there was fresh squeezed OJ and yogurt with fresh fruit.

Here is the link to the Riad in Rabat  www.riadkalaa.com/en/index.html

The entrance to the breakfast room in the Riad

strangest room lock we have ever had

Our breakfast

Courtyard and where we had supper last night

Our driver met us at 8:30 and we were off to explore a couple of sites in the city.  Our first stop was just a short distance from our place.  It is called Les Oudayas, where we were to see the gardens.  We were left off to fend by ourselves while the driver stayed with the car.  We went through the beautiful gate entrance from the 12^th century and a man told us we only had 1 hour until it closed .  Really, it is only 8:30, but he told us it was time for prayer.  So we headed up these very narrow blue and white streets, only to find this man following us.   We sure didn’t see any sign of any gardens, but this man said he lived in the part we were in and was with the “association” so it was OK for him to give us a tour.  So, off we go on a tour with a guy that walks faster than we jog.  He definitely knew the area, he ran us around these streets explaining we were in the Portuguese area, then down to the Muslim area, and finally the Andalusian area at the bottom.  There was a platform at the bottom that was barricaded off, but because he was part of the “association” he moved the barricade in front of the guards and off we went.  What a beautiful view, you could see the beaches on both the Rabat and the twin city of Sale.  Lots of people out already on the beaches, it is low tide and it looks like this makes for the soccer fields when it is low tide.  This whole area is really pretty, we wish we had known it was so close to where we were staying, we would have ventured over last night, it would be beautiful at night.  Next he leads us to the garden gates and then he asked Andre for 160 Dirham, which is pretty close to 15 Euros, Andre laughed, said our tour was only 15 minutes and no way was he giving him that much, he found 4.00 Euros (no small change in Dirhams at this point) and said thank-you, I had walked off at this point, I hate this part.  Anyway he seemed happy enough, no hard feelings, and we got our morning jog/walk in.  The gardens were definitely not a highlight, but they were OK.

Beach on the Sale side with many people playing soccer

Old wooden door, might be 12th century

Nice gardens

Beautiful entrance door

Narrow streets in the Portuguese section

Next stop in Rabat us to visit the Hassan Tower.  The entrance to this area is guarded by men on horses.  The tower  is 140 feet tall and only ½ of the size that it was supposed to be originally as the Sultan died before completed.  Next to the Tower are 200 columns which were going to be used to build the Mosque, but is was never completed, but still is something to see.  The Mausoleum of King Mohamed V is here also, again guarded by a number of men in uniform.  Beautiful ceilings, which again I am sure pictures will not do it justice.

Guarding the entrance

I need a wide angle lens

Guards everywhere

Hassen tower in Rabat

We now leave Rabat and head to Meknes.  Along the way we stopped for a bathroom and tea break.  I asked Andre if I had lost a lot of weight jogging as one woman walked right in front of me in the line, I must get more aggressive. Andre had an ice cream he said he needed to make some change.  We again had green tea with mint, this time served with sugar on the side to add as much as you want.  


Continued on our way to Meknes which was just a short stop.  Here is where the most decorated gate in Morocco is, the Bab Mansour.  Right across from the gate is a square with lots of restaurants and a couple of shops. We walked down to the end of the square and found a market in the back, ventured through here and I refused to walk to same aisle as Andre, why would he pick the meat one?  I was very happy to look at olives, spices and cookies and went off on my own.  When we met up again Andre felt I needed to know that you get really fresh meat here, including live chicken, live rabbits and heads of other things (just so you can know too)

Large field of poppies

Entrance in Meknes

Its going to be hot today

Amazing work in the entrance

Shoes anyone?

Many vendors selling this bread

Tea vendor (remember Amazing Race?)

Petit Taxi, each city has it's own color of Petit Taxi for use only in the town

Back to find our driver and we drive for about another hour and it is time for lunch break.  The driver told us he normally has lunch with the clients in Meknes, but we weren’t hungry yet so we moved on.  Our driver called a friend that recommended a restaurant in Moulay Idriss.  This city from a distance reminded us so much of Spain, it is perched on a hill like so many we have seen the last few weeks.  This is the city where the founder of Morocco first lived.  We did find the restaurant only having to ask 2 people, at the very top of a hill with beautiful views of the valley, and a nice roof top terrace and a nice breeze on what has turned out to be a very hot day.

Moulay Idriss, where we had lunch

After lunch we continued on to Volubilis, one of the best preserved Roman ruin cities in the world.  It was founded in 300 BC, and at one time had 20,000 inhabitants.  We hired a guide for a 1 hour tour, which saved us a lot of walking on this hot mid-day afternoon.  It is only 1/3 excavated and still very large.  There are a few original mosaic tile floors that were fantastic.  It was a great tour, and we were very happy we hired the guide here.

Mosaic floor in Volubilis from 300 BC

Wash basin

Wendy and the guide

Gorgeous valley views

Next we continued on to Fez where we will be spending the next 2 nights.  A very pretty drive, cork trees, olive trees, vendors selling peas on the side of the road, more donkeys than we could possibly count, sheep feeding on the side of the highway with their shepherds keeping close watch, gorgeous green valleys which reminded us a little of Ireland, except it was sunny here. 
Our driver first took us to a lookout point when we arrived in Fez where we could see the city from high above.  A great view that we may ask him to bring us back to once we have found our way around a little tomorrow.

So many shades of green

From the lookout over Fez, we can already see we are going to get so lost!

Our driver wasn’t exactly sure where our Riad was so he called while we were at the lookout and the bellman was waiting at the bottom of the street to walk us to the Riad.  We can quickly tell we are going to get lost a lot here!  Meeting you at the bottom of the street does not mean you just walk up the street to find the Riad, there is a maze in front of you that you will need to navigate to find your way again.

On arrival at the Riad we are again served mint tea while we fill out the check in papers.  A very nice receptionist here who goes over a map with us.  We have dinner reservations here tonight, we weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves in to so decided to stay in tonight and will venture out tomorrow night.  Dinner is served at 8PM so we have 2 hours so decide to venture out and do a little exploring on our own.

There is only one street that you can drive part way down into the Medina, then you are on foot, and sometimes must make way for a donkey or cart coming by.  We are really trying to memorize our route, but there are many many twists and turns, nothing seems to be square.  We are afraid to venture too far off as we have a time we need to be back, so will have to wait to do more exploring tomorrow.  Tomorrow morning we have a guide hired for ½ day, it is really that confusing here, and we have heard that Marrakesh is worse!  We actually asked the bellman to walk us back to the main street from the Riad so we could be sure to find our way back.  So armed with a map and phone number for the Riad and off we went.  I will leave the details of what we saw until tomorrow as I am sure it will be a repeat, but it was amazing and fun, and we did find our way back in time for supper. 

Entrance to Rcif square

Donkey coming through, this is really fun when you are inside the maze of little streets

Mint, lots of this needed in Morocco for all the tea!

Supper tonight is a set menu, no choices.  This is a very tiny Riad we are in, and only 2 rooms have decided to have supper here tonight.  You eat on the rooftop terrace, 40 steps to climb up.  Supper tonight started with a mincemeat pastry, really big and delicious, it really was big enough for the entire meal.  This was followed by chicken and turnip, way too much food.  But we did make room for dessert, which was ice cream, almonds, and strawberries between some kind of pastry sheets, really good.  We finished with mint tea, we may turn into mint tea by the end of the week!

Mincemeat appetizer

Rooftop dining

Chicken olives and turnip

Dessert

Andre practicing making bubbles for our tea, always served in glasses so far, no tea cups

Very fun day, but we’re really tired.  The heat was pretty strong, and the 5:30 AM wake up was a little early.  We spoke to the other couple that was having dinner here tonight and they said the call to prayer is at about the same time here too, so we anticipate another early wake up tomorrow.