Morocco

The Atlantic Coast

Rabat and Salé

Rabat is Morocco's capital and its second imperial city.
With its tree-lined avenues, public gardens and peaceful residential areas, the city exudes an air of elegance and good living. Less dramatic than Fes, less exotic than Marrakech and less turbulent than Casablanca, it is calm and airy, with a provincial feel.

The Hassan Tower was to be as grand as the Koutoubia minaret in Marrakech, but it was never finished

The Phoenicians, like the Romans and their successors, were attracted by Rabat's safe harbour in the estuary of the Bou Regreg. The Almohad Sultan Yacoub el-Mansour made the city his capital in 1184. ringing it with 6km of walls with five monumental gates, expanding the kasbah and building the colossal mosque of Hassan, its minaret even taller than the grand Giralda Mosque in Seville, Spain.
Soon after his death, however, the city he called "Rabat el-Fath" (Rabat of Victory) went into decline until the 17th century and the arrival of the mariscos (Moors expelled from Spain). Both Rabat and neighboring Sale then flourished from a new source of income: piracy.

The New Town

In 1912 the French made Rabat their colonial capital. They left the medina alone, but built a Ville Nouvelle (new town) of broad avenues and residential quarters. This areas main artery is palm-lined avenue Mohammed V, between the royal palace and the medina, with shops, a theatre and cinemas. One of the chief sights is the surviving Almohad wall and gates running parallel to the avenue. Near the splendid Almohad gate of Bab er-Rouah (Gate of the Wind), the Archaeological Museum houses excellent Roman bronzes from Volnbilis and Chellah. These include the fine figure of the attacking Dog of Volubilis and superb busts of Cato the Younger of Uttica an orator who died for the freedom of the republic rather than live under Roman rule and of the Berber king Juba II.
The main thoroughfare then becomes avenue Yacoub el-Mansour, leading to the romantic ruins of Chellah. This long-deserted Roman city became a burial ground during the 13th century under the Merenids. The entrance to the walled site is a stunning Merenid gateway flanked by two towers. The Roman ruins are to the left, while a path to the right leads to Muslim tombs and mosques in an overgrown garden of fig trees, olive branches and wild flowers.
The 17th-century Spanish immigrants responsible for the medina also built the Andalucian wall that runs along avenue Hassan II. The heart of the medina is rue des Consuls, lined with good craft shops and running into Souk el-Ghezel, the wool souk and former slave market. The Kasbah des Oudaias. named after the tribe installed here by the Marmites, was built in the 10th century.

This fine bronze is thought to represent the Berber king Juba II

The walls of Oudaia Kasbah have been constantly reinforced since it was built by the Almohad Sultans

The Kasbah

The entrance to the kasbah is through the splendid and well-proportioned Porte des Oudaias, built in the late 12th century by Yacoub el-Mansour. In the middle of this whitewashed village. in the 17th-century palace built by Moulay Ismail, is the Oudaia Museum, containing a wonderful collection of Moroccan art and crafts. Equally delightful is the palace's Andalucian garden, filled with lemon and cypress trees, date palms and flowers.
A field of columns and an unfinished minaret is all that remains of Yacoub el-Mansour's enormous Mosque of Hassan. The mosque was never finished and later rulers used the stones to restore the kasbah. The 44m minaret, the Tour Hassan, has different decoration on each face. Mohammed V chose this spectacular background for his traditional mausoleum, where he is buried with his two sons.

Bab Mrissa entices you into Salé's old medina

Sale

The area across the river has less to show for its illustrious past, but its whitewashed medina is much more picturesque and characterful than the one in Rabat, and makes for a pleasant stroll. From Bab Mrissa walk to the picturesque Souk el-Ghezel, the wool souk, and then towards the Grande Mosquee. Near by is a beautiful 14th-century Merenid Medersa with superb views from the terrace over Salé and the river, and the marabout (tomb) of Sidi Abdallah ben Hassoun, the city's patron saint of travellers. Further on, the northwest tower houses a charming little ceramics museum and has great views over Rabat.

TAKING A BREAK

The tranquil Moorish Café Maure in the Andalucian garden of Kasbah des Oudaias is an enchanting place for sipping mint tea in beautiful surroundings.

Rabat

Ý 183 03

v Buses from Casablanca,

Tangier, Marrakech, Fes and

Meknes

t Trains from Tangier, Fes,

Meknes, Casablanca and

Marrakech

ñ Flights from Casablanca

Archaeological Museum

* 23 rue el Brihi, near the

s Souna Grand Mosque