October 29 Rabat Morocco

On the recommendation of the guy at reception, I headed off to the Archaeology Museum. It is only a couple blocks from the hotel. Once again, 10 dirham, $1.30 to enter. The museum has 2 floors of exhibits. All the exhibits are in both French and Arabic so difficult to work out some things. They have a couple of large marble statutes and many tools, hammers, and arrow heads for various periods. Most date to Neolithic time, from what I can work out 10,000 years ago. There are also a few pieces from Volubilis, the Roman ruin site near Mekness. It is a small museum so only about 45 minutes to go through.

I then headed off to walk along the beach. It is about a 30 minute walk to beach.... but not really a beach, it is a very rocky coast line. Very interesting though. There was 1 arch that looked very old and also a concrete building. I have no idea what it was or could be. There is also what seems to be an old hospital that is in the process of being renovated. Walked for about 45 minutes and then headed back into the city.

 I caught the tram at the end of the line. Only about a 20 minute ride back, but I got off at a large park near Bab Chellah. Very nice with large trees and lots of grass. But like all areas I have seen, you are not allowed to be on the grass. There is guards everywhere making sure of this. I found a nice little coffee shop in the park so I had one. Very nice to get away from the traffic. There are not really that many people in the park.

I went for dinner at a pizza place just around the corner from hotel. They cook the pizza by a wood stove. You can taste the difference. A bit strange when I got there as the cook was in one section of the restaurant praying!
That was it for the day!


October 28 Rabat Morocco

Breakfast again in hotel. That is after coffee at cafe across the street.
Breakfast is 2 eggs fried in a tagine with lots of olive oil! Actually very good. With all the olives and olive oil I should be really healthy! Also get bread jam honey cream cheese and of course orange juice (fresh) and coffee.

Today I headed off to the Chellah, the site of Roman ruins dating back to 1300. It always amazes me that they built to last this long! There is still the main road stones, mosaic tiles and towers. A huge site but not as big as the one in Mekness. This one is now inhabited by about 100 storks! While there I met a Russian guy. he was on a day for from completing a project to teach kids about water and electricity conservation. Sounded very interesting.

He showed me where I needed to go to see the palace but as I did not have my passport with me I could not get in. So we kept walking back to the city centre where we ran into a student demonstration. The medical students are on strike as the government is changing the fee structure. It was a very peaceful, although loud march by 100s of students. They must have walked by for about 1 hour. We watched them for a while and then decided to have some lunch. We parted and I headed back to hotel to get passport.

The palace is surrounded by a huge wall with gates for entry. To enter you must check in with the police and leave your passport. There is a whole small city within the wall. Everything in immaculate, building grass and trees. The palace is not really that big, but the grounds are huge. The main gate to the palace is very nice. they even allowed pictures of the guards here.

I then headed back to hotel and had a nap before going out for dinner. I found a chwarma place. Really good. Meat, salad of rice corn tomato and cucumber, and fries for 25 dirham, about $3.

Today was a very nice day. Started off clear, then clouded over and then cleared right off for a nice warm day. No rain today as I did have my rain jacket with me!