Kings and things

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

I don't know why, but the words of Shelley were in my head when we went to see the great unfinished Mosque and the Hassan Tower begun by Yacoub El-Mansour in about 1196.
It is also the site of the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.

Guarded at every juncture by uniformed and armed soldiers. The entrance mounted troops are at least provided with shade.

The Mausoleum and New Mosque are certainly impressive, in glorious white Italian marble. Of course as non Muslims we are not allowed in the Mosque. The actual Mausoleum is the square building with the green roof on the left in the photo above.

Immediately in front are the remains of the unfinished mosque, built to be the second largest in the Muslim world at the time, Not forgetting this was 1196. The Hassan Tower is the unfinished minaret and the many pillars delineate the prayer floor. This would have been 600feet by 456 feet square and the minaret would have been 262 feet high. As it stands today at 144feet high its still impressive.
I stood and imagined the scale of the roof over this prayer floor and then remembered that the unfinished building was destroyed by the same earthquake that flattened Lisbon in 1755.
Shelly got it right......

Lynne is standing in front of the several entrances to the Mosque, I think the one immediately to her left is the women's entrance.

Its difficult to know where to look sometimes, do I admire the modern resting place of a direct descendant of Mohammed, or the fantastic vision of a person almost forgotten by history?

I suppose you can and should do both. The resting place of Mohammed V, who after all is the father of Moroccan independence was commissioned by his son Hassan II. Strangely it was designed by a Vietnamese architect, Vo Tuan.

Like a lot of Muslim architecture as despite the architects nationality it is decidedly Muslim, it pays to examine the detail. I think it was a scientist who said that god is in the detail. The intricate carving has to be seen to be fully appreciated it simply drags you in, as in nature the closer you look there always seems to be more to see.

There is no getting away from the fact that this is a simply stunning building and available to Christians and atheists alike. The black marble floor reflects the ceiling lights and the sarcophagus is carved from a singe block of marble.

Here is a snippet of video of the interior.

Outside it was back to the baking sun. We walked across the extensive maze of 26 rows of pillars towards the Hassan Tower and were a bit surprised to find some sunken fountains (and another soldier on guard)

There are obviously other openings which I assume are the museum which we think is actually not open yet. Not unusual for Morocco...…

From a little way further its possible to glimpse the marina in Salé where we would have berthed Dark tarn if we had got this far south.

As it was we were content to be tourists for a change and admire the Hassan Tower and wonder at the strange noises coming out of it. We think birds...…

We could also look back on the Medina where we were staying and both Lynne and I at ths point were thinking , how nice to go for a swim in the rooftop pool.....

The fountains had also turned on making us appreciate the cool water.

 We walked back for a last look at the pillars remaining from Yacoub El-Mansours vision. We declined to mount one as seemed to be the custom with locals, (Muslims are not really that uptight, especially in Morocco)

We left the tower and its mudstone walls behind and headed back into the medina.

I managed to buy a real leather belt for a couple of quid so that was all good, and my trousers would no longer be falling down! The many shopping streets in the medina are a real assault on your senses. However Rabat is not as intimidating as some and the streets particularly the Rue souk and Rue des consuls are fascinating to walk along, there are artisans and craftsmen, leatherworkers and spice merchants. Much as it has probably always been.

Later we decided to dine in the Hotel and enjoyed a bottle of wine, The previous evening I had ordered a tagine of lamb with figs and raisins that Lynne had been tasting all day, so guess what she ordered …..

A great day exploring …..

Back to the casbah

Rabat is another place on the Atlantic coast which has a less than well known history. It has a twin town, Salé, across the river Bou Regreg, .The Romans and Phoenicians knew the river as far back as the 8th century B.C. The Roman name for the town was Sala Colonia.  This later became Chellah, and the Berbers built a fortress/ monastery or Ribat on the site of the present Kasbah. Spanish influence was apparent from the 12th century as Andalucia was brought back under Muslim rule. Rabat became briefly an imperial capital, Ribat Al Fatah, under the Alomad ruler Yacoub Al-Mansour. Extensive walls were built including the Bab Oudaia to the Kasbah, seen below. He also began the construction of a vast mosque which was never completed. We would get to see this another day.

Later in the 17th century Salé, Rabat became a centre for piracy, these corsairs were known, along with other centres in North Africa as being Barbary Corsairs, or Sallee Rovers. Ranging from North America to southern Ireland and Cornwall seeking white Christian slaves. The piracy trade was good and lasted well into the 19th century. The Sallee Rovers are mentioned in the novel Robinson Crusoe, the hero spends some time in captivity before sailing off to liberty from the Salé  ( Bou Regreg ) river. We got a good view of the river entrance from the "Plateforme du semaphore" (signal Station )

To be honest the entrance to the river is less than inviting today, at low water sandbars and a considerable swell make the entrance tricky. As we walked to the far end of the Kasbah to look out at the sea from the walls it became apparent that both Salé and Rabat were surrounded by graveyards. Where Lynne is looking in the photo above at the back of the beach along its full length are graves, as is the area below us. It would appear the dead are buried outwith the walls, although I can find no mention of this fact anywhere so far.

After a quick explore of the Kasbah and avoiding the inevitable "guide" offering to show us around we retired to the Andalucian Gardens. These are within the Kasbah walls and are a haven of peace tranquility and cats.

They are also free to visit which is always a bonus. Its a pity that you cant capture smells on a photograph, as the herbs and plants along with some lovely blooms are delightful, unlike some other parts of the Medina. As you walk around it becomes apparent that drains are usually covered by cardboard or a mat, presumably to lessen the olfactory assault!

As we are within the ancient walls the colours of the dried mud and plaster walls contrasts quite nicely against the greenery and does highlight the colourful paintwork decorating most woodwork. as above.

All in all a delightful spot, and that's before you are enticed to stop and smile at the resident cat colony.

This is a seemingly constant theme in Morocco, Feral cats are cossetted, fed and generally looked after almost everywhere. We have our own cat characters around the marina in Tangiers. It is difficult to not smile and stop a while when six new born kittens are wrestling in the dust.

If you look very carefully at the walls surrounding the gardens you may come across a small door which leads you outside the walls to a famous cafe. The cafe Maure. Its just to the right of Lynne in the photo below.

This is a delightful spot to sit and watch the river below, with extensive views across to Salé. Mint tea is the only game in town here so if your preference is coffee you will need to look elsewhere. Pastries are available from the specialised seller who will come around carrying a large tray of goodies.

There is also a direct entrance back into the Kasbah, this is interesting to wander around and as we were early on this particular day we avoided the "hard sell" from the vendors. There are some lovely bits of random art in the decorated doors and woodwork. An example below.

Later we left the Medina to buy our return tickets from the train station. The New town outside the medina walls was largely designed as a "new town" and has wide boulevards and shady tree lined verges. This is the main street, the Avenue Mohammed V.

It leads to the main Mosque and also the railway station Rabat Ville. Which along with a great deal of the railway system is being rebuilt and refurbished . There will soon be a new high speed line TGV,  between Tangiers and Casablanca. There has been a great deal of European investment in |Moroccan infrastructure, for which the present King takes great deal of credit.

Before we returned to the old town we had a look at the Cathedral of St pierre, built in 1919 with the addition of the two art deco towers in 1930.

Its certainly a striking building and is dazzlingly white in the sun, however despite several revisits at advertised times we never found it open so were unable to look inside. I think it would have been quite lovely looking at the stained glass from the outside.

As Rabat is the capital of Morocco I can see why a Cathedral is located here but I wonder how much it is actually patronised in a country that is 99% Muslim. A white elephant maybe?

Towards Rabat.

Our favourite place to go for a coffee in Tangier is the famous Grand Cafe de Paris on the Rue Pasteur.

The staff are lovely and it's a popular place for locals to while away the time watching the world go by.

I think it was here we decided to visit Rabat

We love the 1930s feel of the Cafe de Paris and Lynne is very fond of the Croque Monsiuer, without ham obviously but still delicious. So a favourite spot to breakfast before starting the day properly.
Incidentally it also features in the movie The Bourne Ultimatum...…, We never saw Jason Bourne though.

On one day we had decided to try and find the Fondation Lorin, which held a collection of old photos of Tangier. It is in an old synagogue which is itself in the old crumbling quarter of the Medina not far from the April 9th Square, or Grand Socco, to be honest it's not that grand.  It's the bit with the trees in the photo below.

 

We did find it though, even close up its not obvious, it's hidden up the narrow passage of the jewellery shops, Rue Touahine.

We were welcomed by the "guardian" who invited us in and switched lights on for us, lovely man but unfortunately no English at all, so we got by in heavily accented French.

The photos are fascinating and show the respectable face of Tangiers past, I was rather hoping for some more salacious images from " wicked Tangiers" however what was on display was certainly very interesting. The photos are displayed over two floors and from the upstairs the history of the building as a synagogue becomes more obvious. The downstairs is occasionally used as a theatre having a stage at one end.

We found a picture of the Grand Cafe de Paris in its pomp including a rather impressive crowned statue unfortunately no longer in existence. The exhibition is free but we made a small donation to our " guardian " for upkeep.

The following day we left Dark Tarn and trundled our luggage to the railway station. We had bought our tickets previously, first class, as this booked a seat. Moroccan first class carriages have six seats to a compartment. The train was on time and our seats were very comfortable. Good job as it would be a five hour trip to Rabat.

We had booked a room in a Riad, or traditional guest house. Ours was the Riad Kalaa, which was somewhere in the maze of narrow streets and passages making up the old town or Medina.

Luckily there were some signs on the walls and with the aid of our old friend google maps we soon found the small wooden door with beautiful carved surround. We rang the bell and were invited in.

The building is over 200 years old and is very beautiful, there is an open courtyard centrally with all rooms coming off this.

We sat and drank mint tea and admired the lovely carved arches and pillars of the courtyard.

Some complimentary biscuits and pastries were much appreciated.

Much to Lynnes delight our room on the upper floor was right next to the rooftop pool.

Since we have been travelling Lynne has become a bit of  a water baby and had been missing a daily swim as it is not particularly comfortable to do so in Tangiers.

It is certainly different swimming above the Medina but is definitely welcome after a five hour train journey even one that is air-conditioned!

Our room is to the right of the pool, the wooden door just where the framework above the central courtyard meets.

The whole building is a Warren of hides holes and quirky spaces. There is also a lot of original art. A very individual touch and one we appreciated.

The cool tiles and shade are also very welcome.

We dined at the hotel and very good it was too. After dinner we had a guide recce around the local streets in a pretty vain attempt to orient ourselves with the narrow streets of the medina.

Limited success, but we did find our way back!
This is the front entrance, doesn't hint at what is inside.

We would dine and breakfast here for the next three nights. But in the morning we planned to explore a bit more of the capital of Morocco. Rabat.