Discover Rabat with Dareen
Rabat is one of most heart catching cities that I have visited so far. This city reminds me so much of my home country, as it looks so much like Alexandria. The time I spent here was really enjoyable, that when I actually left, I felt heartsick. This city lies across the Atlantic Ocean, and having both ancient authentic and modern places adds special taste to it.
My first stop was the Old Médina of Rabat. Even though it is always hustle & bustle throughout the day, this atmosphere is amazing from listening merchants advertising for selling their goods to people haggling for the prices. Even though I’m Egyptian who can speak Arabic fluently, I had hard time understanding the Moroccan dialect. The funniest part is that the majority of them understand us very well, but it was difficult for me to understand their accent, that even some locals talked to us in Egyptian dialect to understand. I realized here Moroccans actually love Egyptians and all the locals I encountered were friendly & warmhearted. They always have a big smile drawn on their faces once they know I’m Egyptian, not Moroccan as a lot of them thought I was at the beginning.
I owe a huge favor to a Moroccan man who helped me take my luggage up the train when I was heading towards Rabat from Casablanca. Then I found out the train was so crowded that my luggage was blocking the way and I didn’t find even find a place to sit. Nevertheless, he kept searching with me for any empty seat throughout the train, until he found one upstairs and he didn’t stop there, he carried my luggage upstairs so they would stay with me. When I arrived at Rabat Ville station, he kept waving goodbyes with a smile on his face until the door closed and he left with the train. Personally, I have never saw someone as gentle as this man . This situation gave me heads-up for my journey throughout Morocco.
After meandering through Old Médina, we headed to Kasbah de Oudaya. It is a masterpiece of art from ancient fortress wall, surrounding the beautiful Andalusian gardens. It feels so peaceful wandering through the gardens. Then walking along the River Abu Ragrag and admiring the small colorful boats, I was off to see the Hassan Tower and Mausoleum of Mohamed V. This place is so vast and I felt so small when standing next to pillars. I loved the architecture and small details of buildings, that I missed entering Mausoleum as I spent time admiring the magnificent decorations.
Lunchtime arrived and we headed towards Rabat Ville to have lunch. The centre of the city is my favorite place to roam around when I’m bored, that even one day I passed through it 3 times back and forth. The best time to enjoy it is at night while having a walk through the breezy weather of Rabat. Moreover, Agdal is the place for shopping for brands and full of restaurants and cafés. Personally, it didn’t attract me much, however I enjoyed walking through its streets at night with the other exchange participants buddies.
Sitting at La Marina at golden hour, looking over river with small colorful boats sailing is the best feeling ever. The view is fascinating. After sunset, the pavement beside the river comes to life with all kinds of snacks’ sellers and local music is playing around you. Here was my first experience with eating snails. It always sounded disgusting for me. However, when I actually tried, it didn’t turn out this bad as I thought.
Chellah is unique compared to other sightseeing in Rabat. It is an area of Roman and Islamic ruins, surrounded by gardens everywhere. The scenery is beyond amazing. However, I didn’t get the chance to know much about its history. Next was Royal Palace. It was my first time to enter the area where the king lives. Back home, we are not even allowed near the wall, protecting our Royal Palace. I wasn’t fascinated much by the area but what I loved there was Assounna Mosque. Watching the men greeting each other and reciting some Islamic hymn before Friday prayers was so calming.
In the weekend, I visited the Exotic Gardens of Rabat Sale and Les Jardins Exotiques de Bouknadel. This was the highlight of trip in Rabat along with La Marina. The gardens are definitely exotic and is entirely eco-friendly. You go roaming from Savannah to Brazilian forest to South Asian gardens. It feels like wandering through jungles without animals being there. I had seen there some of the most beautiful plants I had ever seen in my entire life. Also, I liked that they divided the rubbish into plastics, tins and paper, but what fascinated me is that they wrote over the bin some phrases like “6 tins make a casserole”. This kind of phrases will encourage people to recycle more by realizing its useful impact over the community and the environment. I actually like that Morocco is attempting to be eco-friendly. I witnessed that when I was at cashier in supermarket, the cashier packed everything in paper bag that you have to pay for, instead of plastic bags. When I asked if plastic bags are available, he said it is prohibited. All Moroccans here buy their own paper bags and reuse it over and over again. I personally really give thumbs up for such an environmentally friendly act.
For transportation, I tried all of them; petit taxi, grand taxi, public bus and tramway. Believe it or not, here was my first time to ride any public transport in my life. I loved the tramway and it was really easy-peezy to navigate and it was relatively cheap. Even though some of Aiesecers of Rabat advised us not to take the bus as pickpockets usually occur, it was my only option when I finished my visit to Exotic Gardens of Salé. The bus is really cheap & relatively crowded but I felt safe and I actually enjoyed this experience the most. I am used to riding taxis, however this was my first time to see a taxi that actually pick anyone along his way as long as number of passengers did not exceed 6 per car. I found it weird and uncomfortable at first, but I got used to it.
Moroccan cuisine is unique. That’s why I want to try every Moroccan dish throughout my trip. My first dish was Tagine with meat and vegetables at Dar El Naji, along the known ‘Khobz’. It was delicious and satisfied my hungry stomach. Your experience can not be complete without trying Hawaii; a Moroccan soft drink mixture of coconut, dragon fruit & orange. It is seriously beyond amazing. I nearly drink one every day and I am definitely taking some cans with me back home.
