Morocco Le Grande Tour Day 6 – Rabat and Chefchaouen

Alarm once again shrills into life at 7am. Cram everything back into our bags and get them loaded up onto the bus. After breakfast, we begin our day with a guided tour around the capital.  We start with the Royal Palace. We drive through the ornate arch and up a very long drive. The palace dates from 1864 and is a principal residence of the Moroccan Royal family. It is off-limits to visitors but tour groups are allowed to park up and take photos and that’s exactly what we did.

The city’s iconic Tower Hassan looms 44m above the Bou Regreg estuary. It was originally part of an ambitious Almohad project to build the world’s second-largest mosque (after Samarra in Iraq), but its patron Sultan Yacoub Al Mansour died prior to completion. The mosque was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755, and today only the tower and a forest of shattered stone pillars remain in testament to his grand plans. The entrance is guarded by mount royal guards.

The present king’s father and grandfather were laid to rest in the marble Mausoleum of Mohammed V, which is situated next to the Tower Hassan complex. The Massoleum is decorated with exquisite examples of colourful zellige and carved plaster. Its four entrances are each guarded by a member of the royal guard resplendent in their red and green uniforms.

We gaze over the river from our vantage point high up on the hillside we gaze over the river at Zaha Hadid’s Grand Theatre de Rabat and the soaring Mohammed VI tower. Soaring over the city, the 55-storey rocket-shaped Mohammed VI Tower is visible from up to 50km away and will be the second-tallest tower in Africa upon completion

The next stop on our city tour is the Kasbah des Oudaias. Built by the Zenata tribes built the original ribat was a fortress-monastery that gave the city its name, where the Kasbah des Oudaias stands today. With the Almohads’ arrival in the 12th century, the ribat was rebuilt as a kasbah and provided a strategic launching point for campaigns in Spain, where the dynasty successfully brought Andalusia back under Muslim rule. Under Yacoub Al Mansour, Rabat was briefly an imperial capital. Al Mansour had extensive walls built and added the enormous Bab Oudaia gate, built in 1195, to the kasbah. However, his death in 1199 brought an end to these grandiose schemes. The city soon lost all significance, and it wasn’t until the 17th century that Rabat’s fortunes began to change, as Muslim refugees arrived from Christian Spain.

Today, the Kasbah des Oudaias is predominantly residential with narrow streets lined with whitewashed houses, and it made for a great wander. We stopped for mint tea and some local pastries that were so sweet but nice to try. The Moroccan’s have a serious sweet tooth.

Tour finished, we rejoin the bus bound for the “blue city” Chefchaouen. Rabat is a well ordered spotless city and it’s been a real pleasure to gain a quick half day to see its highlights. Back on the road we stop at a local town to buy lunch and we buy some Moroccan bread, tuna, tomatoes, fruit and water. We reboard the bus and eat our picnic lunch at a service station a couple of miles up the road.

Opposite where we’ve parked our bus there’s a proliferation of Stork nests in a communications tower. They can nest where they like they are after all holy birds. It’s quite a sight.

We get back on the bus for the final push to Chefchaouen. Just before entering the town we stop on the opposite hillside for a panoramic view. It’s a beautiful blue sky day and the blue houses opposite gleam in the sunlight. We arrive into the main square and disembark the bus. We going to walk through town to our hotel whilst our luggage goes up in the bus. We’re excited as the photos we’ve seen are quite amazing. To be honest we don’t see much to dazzle us and after checking into our hotel we go out for dinner in one of the small squares. It’s busy with tourist from all over the world and we adjourn to bed after another busy day. Tomorrow morning we have a 9am tour of the town and we cannot wait.