Late sleep in today for a change - 8.20am.  Managed to enjoy a hot shower - now that we have finally managed to work out how to get the hot water running - before changing into some fresh clothes.  You will not believe how good that felt - we had smiles on our faces for most of the day - nothing could dampen our spirits - excuse the pun!

Another fantastic breakfast with omelets (made in front of you) and french pastries.  We are enjoying this luxury while we can.  It was part way through breakfast that we first noticed the rain and not long after that I noticed the lightening that was accompanying it.  We decided to hole up in the hotel lounge and wait til at least the storm had passed.  We didn’t mind - we had our bags and it’s the first rain they have seen in over a month.

After paying up our hotel bill (due to the extended stay caused by the lost bags), we ventured out.  The storm had passed but the rain persisted.  We headed to an internet cafe a couple of kilometres away and we were saturated by the time we got there.  But we could deal with that - cause we now had our bags and could finally make plans to move on.  Cath updated her website and I sent a message to the family letting them know we had arrived safely and had not run off and married a stranger.  You would be surprised how many people warned us about that

Also got most of the way through a complaint email to the airlines before I hit a button on the keyboard (no idea which one - we are using french / Arabic combined keyboards and we are having enough trouble finding all the letters) - and managed to lose the whole thing with no patience left to start all over again.

I then noticed that it was 1.40pm and realised that we had 20 minutes to get to the Hassan II Mosque before it’s last tour of the day so we finished up and jumped into a Petite cab.  For those of you that are unsure what I am talking about picture a red smartie with a taxi sign on top that has no concept of road rules. 

That’s the other thing!  The roads of this country may as well be on another planet.  If I had my ticket book / autocite, I would be having a field day.  You know how roads occasionally have markings on them?  Well here they are for decoration only - or so it would appear.  You find a spare space you and you squeeze through - bugger anyone else!  The same goes for indicators and occasionally traffic lights.  They appear to be optional extras.  Not to mention the horns!  They are used with the same frequency that I use the accelerator in my car.  As you can imagine, it doesn’t achieve anything except making a lot of noise.

We arrived at the Mosque just in time for the tour - still wet cause it hasn’t stopped raining. The mosque itself is a magnificent building.  Costing over half a billion dollars to build it took 6 years with workers on the job 7 days a week for it to be finished.  Inside the prayer hall they can fit around 25,000 people (it’s something like 60m high and 100m wide).  Outside in the front entrance they can fit another 80,000.  No expense was spared and the detail and craftsmanship is amazing.

After the tour we headed on foot towards the medina.  Did I mention it was raining?  Well by now raining is an understatement - bucketing is more accurate but by this stage we were already wet and figured ‘How bad can this be- really…’  Looking back I want to give myself an upper cut over the back of the head.  Anyway we headed towards Rick’s Cafe but it was closed so we kept going towards the Casa Port Train station to get our tickets to Rabat for the next day.  That idea was soon pushed aside when we saw the crowd at the train station trying to avoid the rain and looking at Cath and I like we were mad.  Come on have they never seen two backpackers before???  It was irrelevant that between the two of us we had enough water soaked into our clothes, hair and backpacks that we could have broken the drought back home.

It appeared that every person in Casablanca was at this station and every petite taxi was outside leaning on their horns.  It was something out of a bollywood movie - all Cath and I could do was laugh.

It was at this point that the thought occured to us that maybe it was too wet to walk and we should get a taxi but then we realised that no taxi driver in his right mind would stop for us looking the way we were and we would probably flood it anyway.  So we walked the remaining 4-5 blocks on foot back to the hotel for a hot shower, dry clothes, dinner and then a very early night!

Casablanca to Rabat

The sun and sky were peaking out around the cloud’s when we got up, looks like the rain is going elsewhere. Hopefully not Rabat.

The hotel handled its breakfast with its usual flare. The waiter kept coming over to enquire about our wellbeing, Lou was getting a little creaped out by him. He asked if we were traveling with someone or with a group. When we told him that we were traveling independently he told us with all seriousness that he would have gone with us to look after us but he had to work.

Lou just looked at him flat eyes and said “Its ok we can look after ourselves.”

I just laughed and agreed, I did not really have to add anything to the statement, think she said it all.

Poor little waiter boy beat a hasty retreat.

On check out they tried to hit us up to pay for breakfast, again. Slight disagreement involving cashier running to supervisor. I won. Enough said.

We toddled off down the road to the train station and managed to buy a train ticket to Rabat without a problem. It was perfect timing really with only a couple of minutes until our train came. Its only about an hour from Casablanca to Rabat and the trains are clean and comfortable. I have a feeling looking at some of the local buses that I’m going to miss the trains after Fes.

You can tell on arrival in Rabat that money has been poured into this place and it presents itself as being very modern as you emerge from the train station onto the streets. The street was wide with palm trees down the center and clean. There were as many locals walking about in western clothes as not, particularly the younger people.

We headed to a budget hotel. We’re both 2-3 days over budget because of the bag saga. While we can recoup the money when we get back it really does not do us much good from this end of the trip. We chose the Hotel Splendid. It’s about 187 MAD per night (so about $13 - $14 each per night.) It’s basic but clean with hot water in the shower. Lou took a couple of deep breaths looking around the room (I’ve got to admit it is a big jump from the hotel we were in to this one) showing particular attention to the shower curtain in place of a door across the shower/toilet enterence. I’ll give her brownie points though she did not say get me the **** out of here!

After dumping our bags we went for a wander mainly into the Medina. At first we were looking to find a restaurant that we wanted to have dinner in that sounded really nice. If you reserve for dinner they supposedly meet you at the enterence to the Medina and guide you by lamp to the restaurant. We couldn’t find it but we did get a good look around some of the Medina. It’s very different from the Medina in Casablanca. It dates from the 17th century and certainly looks like money has been spent to fix it up.

We ended up at the Kasbah Des Oudaia. Its built on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic and is one of the oldest parts of the city built to observe / defend. Its main entry the Almohad Gate of Bab Oudaia was built in 1195 and is huge and very impressive. The ally walls inside the Kasbah are whitewashed painted blue on the bottom half and white on the top half apparently from Spanish influence.

This is about when we started noticing the cats. They seem to be everywhere. You know kind of like in Asia it seems there is a dog on every corner. Well here it seems to be cats and so far I have not see so much as one puppy dog.

After a few minutes admiring the view we headed back to the enterance and walked through the markets towards our hotel. The markets were selling everything from rugs, jewelery, ceramics, bags, shoes, fabric, clothes, etc etc. You name it they seem to be selling it with the usual flair. About half way down the market a man was cooking up a storm and his counter was 3 deep. I swear it looked for all the world like he was cooking hamburgers.

We found a little pastry shop around the corner from our hotel and wonder of wonder’s there were even women, in there as well.

In Morocco it seems the coffee shops, and there are a lot of them, are mostly the domain of the men. They sit for hours sipping their coffee. Not sure what else they do but they do spend a lot of time doing that.

So in we went pointing to the pastry we wanted out of the hundreds on display. I’m not kidding there were quite literally hundreds of them with about 6 girls on the counter. We sat back at a table and ordered our coffee from the waiter then just did that thing that mostly seems to be the domain of men in this country. We watched.

That little pastry shop did not stop with a constant influx of people purchasing pastries, mostly take aways, the girls were kept flat out busy the entire time we were there. You know there is an advantage to Morocco being a former French Protectorate, they certainly know how to make their pastry’s.

When we headed out and braved the streets for dinner we discovered most of the places were closed and would not open until later. So we had to cool our heals and wait. We ended up at the little coffee shop again.

(Lou is at the computer next to mine and all I can hear is this evil little chuckle… she is writing tomorrows entry, um which actually happened a few days ago… whatever she says about me I’m being defamed!)

We ended up at La Mamma’s. A pizza shop staffed and run by Moroccans, you gotta love that. The Pizza was great and we also had a pitcher of wine to share. I have no idea what wine it was but it tasted good , the whole point at the menu and prey thing worked rather well!

We got a nice surprise when we got back to our hotel. Not only had they promised hot water. It was!!!

RABAT, MOROCCO

Today was our opportunity to explore one of the four imperial cities of Morocco - Rabat! First up we strolled past the Imperial Palace (no this is not where we were staying) to outside the old city wall to the ancient ruins of Sala Colonia and Chellah. Dating back to before the 13th Century, the site is now largely overgrown with wild flowers and fruit trees as well as the stork nests that now have prime position atop the ruined towers and columns. Many artifacts still remain intact on site including tombs however many have been removed to the archeology museum in Rabat for protection and preservation. This was however a peaceful place to stoll around, soak up the history of this city as well as escape all the hustle and bustle.

A short walk later found us at the archeology museum. It is small and underfunded however exudes as much atmosphere and charm as the artifacts it preserves including items from Chellah and Volubilis ( the World Heritage Listed site 33km outside of Meknès) - some of these items dating back to the Roman occupation of Morocco as well as the Stone Age - some 350,000 years. We were shown around the museum by one of the curators who spoke as much English as I do French (which isn’t a lot) however we managed to get the gist of most of what he was saying in relation to the background of different pieces. Just took a little bit longer than normal

After some lunch and a break from walking, we headed over to Le Tour Hassan (Hassan Tower) which they started building in 1195. It was originally supposed to be 60 metres high but building stopped at 44m after the death of the sultan. The site also houses the mausoleums of the two previous Moroccan Kings - which as you can imagine are elaborately decked out.

It was as we were approaching the mausoleums that a guard wearing a some form of lemon yellow superman cape (kinda like yours Trev…), indicated for me to come over to him. Thinking that he was part of the army or police and about to tell us that we really shouldn’t be near there, I approached (being the law respecting citizen that I am). Imagine my surprise when the conversation unfolded something like this,

Guard, ‘You come take my photo!’ (And no, before you ask, it was not directed as a question but a statement)
Lou, ‘Pardon?’
Guard, ‘You take photo of me. You in it too!’

At this point I was about to politely decline, when my enterprising house-mate decided to enter the conversation with,
Cath, ‘Great! I’ll take the photo!’ and she then proceed to chuckle her way into a suitable position to take said photo whilst I had the guard saying to me, ‘Come stand closer’. Needless to say that once Cath stopped laughing long enough to take the damn photo - I thanked the guard for his time and made a polite retreat with revenge for Miss Walker foremost in my mind with a suitable opportunity presenting itself not long after.

We had walked into one of the Mausoleums at the top balcony and another guard complete with superman cape was kind enough to point out the features of the buildings design. Not long after he then said, ‘You take photo with me!’
Lou, ‘Thanks. My friend Cath would love that.’ of course indicating Cath at the same time.
He then was quite pleased (not sure about Cath though - couldn’t quite read her facial expression around the glare she was giving me) and moved into a corner position. Taking Cath’s camera from her, I hustled her into the corner as well with the comment, ‘Payback time’.

A quick wander through the Andalusian gardens and the Medina markets rounded up our day.

We ventured out to a a restaurant called ‘La Petite Beur - Dar Tangine’ for dinner which wasn’t too far from the hotel. This place was fabulous - the food was mouthwatering, the beers cold and the service excellent - our waiter even doubled as a Berber musician a bit later with traditional music that had us tapping our toes.

Again the menu was in French and Arabic so we had no idea - but we are slowly gaining the ability to read the odd word or two and getting extremely good at closing our eyes, waving our finger over the menu items and ordering whatever it lands on. Don’t laugh - this technique has been surprisingly good so far so we’re sticking to it

RABAT TO MEKNES

This morning we were up early, packed and off to the train station (via of course the French patisserie for croissants) for our 9.17 am train to Meknès which took just under two and a half hours. A good time for us to catch up on our journal entries, relax, listen to the ipod and enjoy the passing scenery.

Upon arrival in Meknès we managed to hail another Petite Taxi (still blue in colour by the way) to take us up to the Medina where we hoped to find a bed in one of the traditional ryad’s. We were deposited in the centre of the Medina at Place el-Hadim from where we managed to navigate our way to the front door of Ryad Bahia. After being greeted by the English speaking owner, we told they had a room available due to a cancellation but only for one night.

This place is beautiful. You would never guess that such a well restored multi level house (complete with internal courtyard and fountain) existed behind the alley walls within the Medina itself. It was also upon our arrival that I had my first taste of traditional Moroccan mint tea - very yummy!

After settling in and a good conversation with the owners we were directed to a second Ryad (not as elaborate as Ryad Bahia but with as much charm and atmosphere) where we were able to secure a room for the second night here. After this we were left to wander around and explore the Medina part of which was being shown the difference in the different styles of Moroccan rugs. They were very helpful and I even started to haggle over a particular one that caught my eye - but they lost the sale about the same time the salesman (for want of a better term) lost his patience and threw a tantrum because I wanted to think about it for a little while and he wanted me to hand over the cash. Needless to say Cath and I departed the stall shortly afterward. It kept Cath and I amused for awhile though because it’s not that often you see a 40 year old-ish man throw a tantrum

That night we enjoyed a home cooked meal within the Ryad (however we are still coming to terms with the Mediterranean style of having dinner half way to midnight) and some accompanying music from some local boys although they were no match for our waiter in Rabat!

Meknes, Morocco

Volubilis
Today we headed out to Volubilis a Unesco World Heritage Site and excavations to date indicate the site was settled by Carthaginian Traders in the 3rd century BC.

Volubilis was annexed about 40 AD and was the Roman Empire’s most remote outpost. The Romans abandoned Volubilis due to Berber incursions about 240 AD but the city continued to be inhabited until the 18th century. About then the city’s marble was plundered to build Moulay Ismail palaces in Meknes and the city fell into ruin. Still at it’s hight it is estimate the city housed approximately 20000 people.

We hired a guide for the site as there is very little signposting even in French. He was quite knowledgeable about the site, or really good at making up stories about the various rooms and artifacts within the site. (I’m joking by the way, he really was a good guide and what he told us was mirrored on the few signs that were in place and in the LP). You’ve got to give Moroccans credit. This guy spoke 4 to 5 languages, mostly self taught!

The tumbled down stones have in places been partially restored but they certainly have a long way to go. (You’re all going to have to wait for the photo’s since for the most part the internet connection is really slow here and no USB ports or card readers to download them anyway. I know you are all very disappointed and upset over that!)

Moulay Idriss

Next on the days agenda, we had the Grandis Taxi for half a day so we figured we might as well pout it to good use, was the town of Moulay Idriss and we spent some time just wandering the streets. The place is very important to Moroccans as Moulay Idriss (the person) is credited with being the founder of Morocco’s first Dynasty and he is regarded as a saint. As such the town has become a pilgrimage site and has only been open to non-Muslim’s for the last 70 years.

The locals seem to be a lot more traditional than what we’ve encountered so far here in Morocco with very few wearing western clothing. Donkeys are also put to use a great deal as a method of both transport and beast of burden.

Meknes
We returned to Meknes and changed to Sweet Sultana Raid. Just up the alleyways a bit and around the corner from Ryad Bahia. Sweet Sultana Raid while a little more basic than Ryad Bahia the price is correspondingly cheaper. The owner is lovely and welcoming and their is a quaint little dining area off the central courtyard. Filled with cushions and curtains. You have to order your food in advance, I’m assuming so she can go out and purchase the ingredients.

In the afternoon we walked across the open courtyard of the Palac El-Hedim towards the Bab el Mansour. The gate is one of those big massive ornate gates and was once the main enterence to Moulay Ismail Imperial city. The gate was finished by Moulay Ismail son in 1732.

Moulay Ismail is credited with being one of the people who set the ground work for what is today Morocco with his famous (or is it infamous?) Black Guard. With them he won many victories and managed to drive out the various powers from Northern Morocco.

We walked through the grounds and managed to walk in the wrong entrance (well it was the exit apparently) of Moulay Ismail Mausoleum.

Walking towards the Heri es-Souani and Agdal Basin we recognised that we must be near the real Palace by the simple tell tail sign of the appearance of armed guards at every entrance. We were not going to make the mistake of trying to walk through those doors since I really do not think those guards looked like they had a sense of humour!

The Heri es-Souani is a massive granary, or was, and is quite impressive in its design. It stored grain and feed for Ismail 12000 horses. A couple of them have been restored but the bulk of them have been left as is.

The Agdal Basin originally served not only as a reservoir for the sultans gardens but a pleasure lake. The basin is fed by a system of channel’s some of which are 25km long. Today is surrounded by benches and the young and some not so young spend time wandering around the lake or just sit and enjoy the tranquility away from the hustle of the city.