Monday June 2 was a glorious day in Morocco. Blue sky and temperatures rising to 29C. We started our tour at 9:30 a.m. with Mohamed our driver and Youseff, a local guide for Rabat. We went first to the Royal Palace, which is one of the few Royal Palaces that one can take pictures of from the outside. It is one of the over 20 palaces that the King has across Morocco. This palace is presently used primarily for receptions and it houses administrative offices. The present King, Mohammed VI, tends to stay in his palace in neighbouring Sale, where his wife is from.
 |
| The Royal Palace
Beside the Royal Palace was a mosque. Youseff pointed out that Moroccan mosques have square tops rather than the rounded ones of the Ottoman Empire. Morocco was one of the few countries that the Turks did not conquer. The Mosque was a gift from the city of Fez in 1957, just after the 1956 independence of Morocco.
|
 | |
| Mosque near Royal Palace
We then went to visit the ruins of Chellah, an independent city that existed before the present city of Rabat. [Chellah is the edge of Rabat] The Phoenicians were the first to settle there, but the Romans took over in about AD 40. The city was abandoned in 1154, but in the 14th century the Merenid sultan (Berber) About al-Hassan Ali built a necropolis on top of the Roman city and surrounded it with a defensive wall that exists today. The site was first excavated in the 1930s by the French. It is in a beautiful location.
|
 |
| Roman inscribed stone |
There is a family of storks that nest in the Minaret. They bring good luck and like to nest in high places. The adults will leave Rabat soon when it gets too hot, but the babies can't fly yet and will wait in Rabat for their parents' return.
 |
| Storks on top on Minaret |
There was a beautiful wall decorated with Kufi script from the Berber period.
 |
Berber wall We also saw the graves of another Berber ruler, Abu Al-Hassan and his English born wife and son. 
Hassan's wife, Hassan and his son's graves
Behind the mosque are beautiful gardens with lovely flowers and plants. From the garden, one looks over the River Bou Regreg to see cultivated fields and beyond them the city of Sale. A really beautiful site.
 
Trumpet tree
We then went to see the Mohammed V Mausoleum, the resting place of King Mohammed V, who died in 1961. The mausoleum was build between 1962-1972. It is across from the Hassan Tower. The Hassan Tower was part of a planned great mosque by Yaqoub al-Mansour. It was abandoned with his death in 1199. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake demolished part of the project. [Note: this earthquake was a major event in Moroccan history, leaving a path of destruction].
 
Guard outside wall near Mausoleum
Mausoleum with man chanting in corner
|
As we left the Mausoleum and Hassan Tower, I had my picture taken with a guard.
 |
| We stand on guard... |
 |
| Just beside the entrance to the Kasbah with the ocean behind us |
It is a beautiful area of narrow streets all in blue and white. Apparently the blue paint keeps the mosquitos away. There was a promotional movie being shot on one street. Well-off people live in the Kasbah and the houses are apparently much larger and elaborate inside then the outside appears.
We paused for a coffee at a lovely spot in the Kasbah, with an ocean view.
 |
Enjoying coffee in the Kasbah
Cat with his fish lunch
We then walked through some beautiful Andalusian gardens as we were leaving the Kasbah- beautiful Seville orange trees and lovely flowers. It was just a gorgeous spot. Alain and I can not get over the amount of greenery and flowers at this time of year. We have been told it's the best time to be in Morocco, even though we are just getting into low season
 
We said our goodbye to Youseff and headed out to Meknes, about 138km east of Rabat. We drove through the Middle Atlas Mountains.
Meknes is a very well preserved imperial city. It has three sets of imposing walls, built by Moulay Ismail (1672-1727). Meknes was the capital of Morocco during his reign before it was relocated to Marrakech. It was named after a Berber tribe.
  |
We also visited the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail which had beautiful intricate tiles.
We also saw the Bab Mansour, widely considered North Africa's most beautiful gate, completed in 1732, by a Christian converted to Islam. This was Moulay's Ismail's last important construction project- an elaborate homage to himself, rather than a defensive stronghold. That is why there is so much decoration and engraving.
 |
| Bab Mansour
The grandeur of Meknes is very much intact. Today it is a city of over 1,000,000 people.
Another part of the gates
We then drove through the mountain town of Moulay Idriss. This used to be the sight of pilgrimages from all over Morocco, as it is the final resting place of Moulay Idriss I, the nation's religious and secular founder. It is a rather poor town today, but the view is panoramic.
Moulay Idriss ( 23 km north of Meknes)
One of the many highlights of the day was our visit to Volubilis, where there are incredible Roman ruins. Volubilis was the capital of the Roman province of Mauritania, Rome's southwestern most incursion into North Africa. The location was chosen for strategic reasons- it is surrounded by some of Morocco's most fertile plains and wheat, olive oil and wine from this area were sent back to Rome. We had a local guide, Abdullah, who accompanied us through the site. There were 20,000 inhabitants living in this 28 acre city. The Roman city existed from about the first century B.C. to the 4th century A.D. The site started to be excavated by the French in the 1920s.
There was a very modern building just beside the ruins, which is to be a museum. A number of artifacts had been labeled and were sitting outside, including this stone with Hebrew inscription.
There have been a great many olive oil presses found in the ruins. Many of the houses had their own olive oil presses. Our guide said that very wealthy people lived in Volubilis evidenced by the mosaics, baths, and other artifacts. The city was laid out in a typical Roman way, with a main entrance and street, stores and houses, baths, temples and a glorious Triumphal Arch build in 217 AD, destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and restored in 1932.
Olive oil press
Dolphin tiles next to a fish pond, located in a private house
Beautiful three-headed dog tile
|
It was interesting that there was a Temple of Jupiter, clearly built before Christ, but there was also evidence of an area where baptisms took place in the later days of the City.
 |
| Pomegranate tree
Our guide was quite knowledgeable about the history of Volubilis. Alain and I really enjoyed our visit here, having visited Roman ruins in Israel and Jordan two years ago. The lay out was very similar to the Roman city we had visited in Jordan-- the main drag, many stores, the forum, baths and tiles. What was unique to the city of Volubilis was the development of olive oil and wine industries. Today, there are many beautiful vineyards and olive trees in the vicinity of Volubilis and Meknes.
We continued our drive to Fez, about 88 km from Volubilis. We passed by a mountain lake in the Rif mountains.
|
We got to Fez at about 7:30 p.m., a long day but extremely interesting. Of course, we then found out that the Hotel only had internet that worked in the lobby, not in the rooms. I am finishing this blog on the morning of Tuesday June 3, sitting in the bar area. We stay in Fez today.
I seem to be the only one ever to leave a comment! I just wanted to let you know that Marsha and I are very much enjoying the blog. It lets us travel vicariously, at least a little. I am only two blogs behind...
ReplyDelete