Roaming Rabat

With the usual arguments with taxi drivers at Rabat Station and a sincere conversation with a young man of Senegalese origin, we opted to walk to the hotel which was described as being 300m up the road. ‘Up’ was the right word to use because after a part of flat but rather broken roads and pavings, it did start to climb.

All that luggage to be hauled among 6 people. It was a lot and rather a sight too. Hans was suffering of both the heat and the weight but finally we were there. The rooms were booked already and they all got into their respective rooms to find that there were neither towels nor soap. This came a few minutes later.

The men went to the South African Embassy on an information gathering mission and came back looking very pleased with themselves. They were having a drink at the bar downstairs when the ladies decided to go out for a stroll. Finally, they all decided to go patronize a pizza place up the road and also find an internet café for making photocopies etc.

They did find a ‘cyber’ and after dinner they went to look for a place to make photocopies. It was by then 21h00 but they still found a small bookshop open, photocopies could be done that place.

While they men went to the various embassies on the other side of town the women decided that they will investigate town with the new tramway service that was just inaugurated in May. So, they went downtown, across the river, and back up and then again to the square next to their hotel.

It was a very pleasant ride which took about 2 odd hours, they were very comfortable. Orange juices were de rigueur after that. When the men got back from their visa trip, they all went to have a bite at the Petit Resto, a bistrot type eatery in the area where the French Institute is – Quartier Hassan.

Later in the afternoon, we took the tram for one stop only – so the husbands could get the feel of it. We walked through one of the many ‘baab’s of the old city, into the market. It was not very busy yet. The first few vendors they encountered were rather rude. We could not understand whether they were not interested to sell or just have had a bad day but their rudeness was rather surprising.

Further up the road the other vendors were quite keen to talk and show their wares: carpets, durries, kelims, leatherware, fabric etc. the way these shops were set up, they looked like one could imagine ‘Ali Baba’s’ cave to be, going deep inside, filled with wild and wonderful wares.









It was a bit of a walk to the fancy restaurant they had booked inside the old town – Al Dinajat. 

Then they set out to look for a restaurant in the old Medina. Finally they found it after one wrong turn; someone was kind enough to point them in the right direction. It was in an old but grand house. The décor was nice without being overbearing.












They chose dishes to share: pigeon b’stilla, lamb couscous with 7 vegetables and lamb shank tajine. Everything was delicious, even the chili sauce. The pudding was also a b'stilla.


The loo was quite something else…..



















After this sumptuous dinner, we walked back, going in a rather roundabout way. It is not easy to find the way with a map in Rabat, street names are rather scarce, rusted or downright non-existent. We did not get lost though.




Thursday, we explored the market a little more. On Thursdays there is a carpet sale, where the weavers from the village come to the souk to sell their carpets to the shopkeepers. Then, we went to the ‘Casbah’ and enjoyed its peace and quiet in there. They had a good view of the sea front from the casbah battlements. The visit to the weavers was interesting. They did tell the weavers that they were only browsing but that seems to be ‘payant’ as is many things in Morocco.










From living in South Africa, one is very aware of poverty that is also very apparent in Morocco. However, this constant expectation for tips is to be expected but because one looks foreign, they seem to expect more and even get cross when their expectations are not fulfilled. This makes things not so pleasant, there is a certain trepidation before visiting any place or doing anything as banal as asking for information.

For lunch, they decided to walk to a popular grill up the road from the Hotel, the ‘Coq Magique’. the place was crowded, where they seated us was too hot for Hans who promptly got back to the hotel. Coen ordered mechoui and Stephanus some lamb chops. Both dishes were generous and tasty. There were olives for everyone, served with a cumin/chilli sauce. That evening they dined there on a whole grilled chicken served with chips and rice.

Friday morning the others went to the Masoleum but we stayed in the hotel doing admin, blogging and resting. When the men left to fetch visas from the embassies, the two ladies went to have a bite at that place which they searched for but did not find a few days earlier – Ty Potes. Quaint place with an inner garden serving ‘French-style’ food. They chose a ‘galette bretonne’ with salmon that was delicious and quite enough for two. 

The visa outing seems to have been quite successful. They rested for a while longer and then it was suddenly imperative to get the tickets for tomorrow’s train trip today. Hence a walk to the ‘gare de Rabat Ville’. It was not a long walk, it did feel longer when we were loaded a few days ago!

Here again, they managed to secure a whole compartment to themselves.

On the way back to the hotel, the group wanted to try Ty Potes for a drink, so we stopped there. The place was empty and we managed to get a nice place in the garden. It was very pleasant and in spite of the late afternoon hour there were no mosquitoes. After this we walked back to the hotel with us buying cheese and flat bread at the local supermarket and the others got roast chicken with all the trimmings at some other place.

The hotel staff agreed to let them have this feast in the breakfast room of the hotel. It was a very varied meal with olives, juice, mayonnaise, mustard, rice etc.

Fortunately, the next day, when we got the bell boy to get taxis for us, we did not have long to wait. He was all smiles when we gave him a generous tip before we left, he was waving at us, wishing us to have a good trip. Great change to his demeanour when we first asked him very politely to get 3 taxis for us.