My first night in morocco was pretty darn decent.
I tried to stay up late but lost the fight at around 7 pm. 14 hours later I was recharged and ready to start my day. I was to leave for Tanger at 1 pm so I did not have a lot of time
to take in Rabat. I left the ville nouvelle and headed for the old
part of town. My first stop was the Hassan mosque.
This is an incomplete mosque on the edge of town and would
have been the second largest in the world at the time if it had been completed. Because it was never finished non-muslims are welcome inside. The pillar and surrounding garden appeared to be closed to all on this day so I had to settle
for just an outside view. It was still pretty cool. My next stop was the Mohammed V mausoleum.
Luckily enough it was right next to the mosque.
Inside is the body of, you guessed it,
the former king of Morocco Mohammed V. His coffin is placed in the
center of the room with a cleric reciting passages from what I am
guessing is the Qur’an. On each corner there is also an armed
guard.
After exploring this area a bit I
caught a cab and headed towards the medina and the kasbah des oudaias
which was in the northern part of the city.
If you look closely you can see three
kids hitching a ride on the bus.
I didn't spend a whole lot of time in
the medina and pretty much went right to the kasbah. As I walked
through the gate I was approached by a number of different 'guides' but as usual I brushed them off and kept walking.
I really had no idea where I was going
and after walking for a while a older man pointed to a corridor and
said the main entrance was blocked off and this was the only way to
get to the main part of the kasbah. Like a fool I followed his advice and
realized pretty instantly I had been duped into walking down a maze
of streets. I usually make one really dumb decision at the start of my travels before I get settled in and for Morocco this was it.
Fearing horrible rape followed by robbery I
tried to back track but the old man approached me and offered to take me
through the kasbah. I tried to turn him down but realized with what
little time I had to see things it may be better to have someone show
me around. He spoke decent English and claimed to lived in the area. He
ended up showing me a lot of interesting things and knew a lot of the
history about the area. Just follow the kasbah zebra.
There were 3 stages of the tour; the
top, the middle, and the bottom. From the top there was a good view
of the city and the coast. The beach is for Moroccans only so
going down there was not an option.
After the tour my 'friend' requested
120 dh of me, which I found ridiculous. I told him this and he tried
to make me feel like I was getting a deal for being tricked into
taking a tour. I handed him 30 dh and left him with a somewhat dissatisfied look on his face although I am sure I still gave him more than his minimum. I was not raped.
With my time running out I decided to
grab a quick lunch before my train ride. I am still excited about how
cheap food is. I got my whole meal for around 3.50 us. It was one of
the best sandwiches I have had with a while. Loaded with Lamb,
onions, pickles, tomato, and some sort of yogurt sauce. Simple stuff
executed very well.
I am glad I got a good meal in because
the train ride turned out to be 4 ½ hours long. The train was also
packed. Each compartment consisted of 4 seats on each side
facing each other with little room in between I was lucky enough to grab a seat and road knee to
knee a number of locals also making the long trip. The trains were just as confusing as last time but I had the
advantage of not having to transfer. My ride up the north west coast
consisted of a number of different terrains.
The journey was long and I still couldn't see all of the station signs from my seat. What I did see was the
ticket of the person sitting next to me and they were stopping at the
same station so I just waited for them to get off. I had been trying to figure it out by arrival time but since our train turned out to be 30 minutes late from that estimate that turned out to be no help. I thought I would be able to figure this system out with a full nights sleep but the system is just as
vague to me as it was yesterday. Really if I knew one of the native languages I would probably be fine. Luckily its all buses and grand
taxis from here on until Tim meets me with the car. I caught a cab
and headed for my next hostel.
I am staying in the medina this time
and the driver dropped me off at the gate. Many of the streets in the
madinas are very narrow so most cabs will not drive into them. He
told me my place was just up the street and to the right. I headed
that way and realized he had no idea what he was talking about. My
theory is when I showed him the address he saw it was in the medina, just took me to the nearest medina gate, and then gave me bogus directions with cash in hand.
I was immediately approached by a
number of guides once again and brushed most of them off. A young boy
tried to sell me gum and when I refused he screamed at me down the
block. I think he needs to rethink his business model. One of the non screaming children was quite persistent and
followed me as I searched for my hostel. I lost him a few times but
he kept finding me. He claimed he did not want money from me and just
wanted to practice his English. After my adventure earlier I knew
this was a load of crap but finally gave in when I could not find the
place.
He knew right where the hostel resided, took me
to the front door, and then asked for money. I didn't bother asking about his earlier statements and told him I didn't have any cash on hand. He left saying he would
connect with me tomorrow. Great. Dreading the awkward potential
reunion I might have with my new 'friend' I checked in. The hotel
this time is a huge upgrade from last night. The whole place is kind of crazy.
The staff is great and even drew me up a map of the area so I wouldn't get lost again. I took the map and headed out to find some dinner. The staff recommended a small place down the street called Ray Charlies. It consisted of a small 6 seat bar and offered rotisserie chicken options. It was not as good as the sandwich I had eaten earlier in the day but was very filling and really hit the spot. I also got my first taste of Fanta lemon which will be consumed again.
I returned home after my short meal and
took a long needed shower. This is when I realized a hilariously
embarrassing feature of this hostel. One of the amenities they
provide is bath robes. Now I am not one who typically uses a bath robe when bathing but I thought I would give it a try since I am on vacation. Now the
shower on my floor is a shared shower across the way. What ties this all together is
the clear glass floor that separates said shower from my room.
Needless to say everyone in the lobby got a nice
sack attack to start off their evening. And with that I will leave you
to your evening. Go Broncos.
