April 17 – 18

With another early morning departure, this time to catch our train to Rabat, we asked the desk clerk the night before about a taxi and they said it could be arranged, but when we asked the morning clerk, the contacts he normally uses were not available.  The three of us then walked out to the plaza nearest our maze of streets to hope that a taxi would come by.  After some time and our train departure getting closer, we realized that was not going to work and so he walked a few more blocks up to the main street where he secured a ride for us and with luck, we made it to the station with moments to spare.  It was another example of the fine service Riad Luzia provided. 

For not much more money, we’d booked first class tickets at 570 Dirhams ($63) for the two of us and were glad to have done so, as our compartment of six seats was full throughout our journey.  The trip went smoothly, and we arrived in Rabat with a 15-minute walk up Avenue Mohammed V to the medina and our stay at Riad Asswar, a relatively new accommodation that went out of their way to curry favor with us so that we would give them a good rating. 

We found it to be a typical Riad in terms of interior design and decoration, providing for a relaxing atmosphere.  Our room though, while adequate, was quite narrow leaving little or no room between the sides of the bed and the walls of the room.  Our bathroom was spacious, but it was of one piece, that is, that shower, toilet and sink all shared the same space.  Nicely tiled it was furnished with replica gold plating on the fixtures, an odd choice for a hotel room.  We were more than pleased though with the price at 1,450 Dirhams ($164) for our two-night stay. 

It having been a long day of travel, we walked out of the medina in search of food and eventually settled on the busy and inexpensive Pizza Ricca, where we enjoyed three slices of very good pizza, a bottle of water and a diet coke for 54 Dirhams ($6.12).  We walked back to the Riad checking out the shops that lined the street thinking of potential souvenirs but waiting until later to choose something. 

Breakfast the next morning was filling, with local bread and sauces to dip it in and a nice omelet, along with coffee and juice.  It would easily power us through our morning activities.  Our plan was to start with a visit to Chellah, a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis and ancient archeological site.  As it would take about an hour to walk there, we took advantage of the city’s use of Tuk-Tuks, two passengers, pedal assisted electric rickshaws, to transport us to the historical site for 50 Dirhams ($5).

Beginning with a Phoenician trading emporium here in the first millennium BC., it was later the site of Sala Colonia, an ancient Roman colony before it was abandoned in Late Antiquity.  In the late 13th century, the site began to be used as a necropolis for the Marinid dynasty.  By the mid-14th century Marinid sultans had enclosed a part of the site with a new set of walls and built a religious complex inside it to accompany their mausoleums.  In the 15th century the necropolis began to decline, and it suffered damage over the centuries due to earthquakes and looting.  Archeological excavations in the 20th century unearthed the remains of the ancient Roman town.  Today the site is a tourist attraction and since 2012 it forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We paid 240 Dirham ($26 for the both of us) to enter and paused just inside the main gate to get a glimpse of the entire site.  We walked down the hill to our first stop, which was the Hill of the Marabouts, which houses the tombs of some notable Muslim saints.  Next up was the Merinid Complex, home to several architectural units: The Abou Youssouf Yaacoub mosque, the madrasa, the Marinid cemetery and the hammam. 

During the Merinid period (beginning around 1284) the site of ancient Sala (the ancient Roman city) was re-appropriated and turned into a royal necropolis for the ruling dynasty.  Because of its ruined condition today, the exact chronology of its development is not well known.  When you enter the complex the first set of rooms you encounter are of the mosque, which includes a courtyard, a prayer hall, a mihrab, a minaret, and decorative Islamic elements.

We moved on to the Shems D’ha mausoleum, wife of Sultan Abu El Hassan and mother of Sultan Abu Inan who died in 1349.  We left the Complex and began to explore the areas housing the ruins of the Roman city, starting with the judicial Basilica and the Curia, two main institutions in the management the political, legal, and administrative life of the settlement.  Across a plaza sits the lower terrace of the Capitoline Hill which included nine shops with vaulted roofs and a gallery overlooking the Decumanus Maximus, the city’s principal east-west street.

Sited above the extensive garden of Chellah, the baths of the Forum played an essential role in everyday life in Ancient Rome, serving as places for bathing and socializing.  Not far from the Roman baths were the remains of a Moorish bath from the Marinid period, one of the oldest historical baths in Morocco, designed according to a traditional plan and ancestral techniques for the heating system, water collection and drainage.  Skirting the edge of the garden, I walked out to the south-east tower, one of the twenty-three towers of the Merinid wall, which overlooks the Bouregreg valley.

Walking back through the property, we paused at Bab Ain Jenna, one of the three historic gates that punctuate the Marinid wall and provide access to the site.  And now we began to work our way to the exit, thinking first that we would grab a snack at the café on site only to discover it was closed for a special event.  And so, we left after a satisfying visit and engaged another Tuk Tuk to take us to our next destination.  We’ll cover that and the rest of our stay in Rabat in the next post. 

Links

Riad Asswar: https://www.booking.com/hotel/ma/riad-asswar.html

Pizza Ricca: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293736-d8477817-Reviews-Pizza_Ricca-Rabat_Rabat_Sale_Kenitra.html

Chellah: https://www.chellah.site/en/