Rice is nice but the Tanjine is Supreme!
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2008
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61
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Trip End
Jan 01, 2009
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Rabat,
Morocco
Saturday, January 31, 2009
We packed out bags, now much lighter since sending trinkets home from Rio, and walked into the town centre for a taxi to the train station.
The people of Morocco are said to be some of the friendliest in the world, and we have to agree. While on the train one family shared their pudding, while another offered us oranges, everyone was helpful with bags, and for the first time in 4.5 months of travel the person behind the ticket window was smiling, very helpful, and had fun telling us a few jokes...we were really starting to like Morocco.
Our ticket south was an easy to handle $10, the trains were really nice and 5 hours later we arrived in the Capital city of Rabat. We walked to our hotel and then ventured out to get some food and checkout the city. Compared to Tangier, Rabat feels a little more cosmopolitan and a bit less intense. We realized we had been in Morocco for 24 hours hadn't eaten anything authentic so we found the closest Moroccan place and dug into a pile of Couscous and Tajine chicken...yum, Morocco was getting even better.
We spent another hour walking the new city and then the old. The cafe's, which are on every corner, were packed with men, no women allowed, and their cafe or mint tea (Moroccan Whiskey). In the markets you could buy amazing selections of olives, spices, or dates in addition to entire cows and perhaps a dozen different birds (including pigeon). The food stalls seemed to specialize in grilled cow and sheep head sandwiches...we decided to try it another day.
Arik noticed a Schwarma restaurant which he justified as dessert. Here as well the food was amazing....by this point Morocco had found a special place in our hearts and in our stomachs.
Our second day we organized visas at the Indian embassy. Then we walked around the city. First stop was the Hassan tower, which was started in 1195 and never completed. Directly beside the town was a large Mosque where prayer was in full swing, being Friday it is the Muslim holy day. Outside the Mosque some girls started putting henna on Charis' hand. After finished part of the hand Charis asked how much, $20 Euros the girl replied...Doh! First rule of travel, determine the price before hand. We managed to escape this scam with 20Dirham, or a $2 payment instead.
We found the beach and were a bit surprised to see a few dozen surfers. The smell of burning garbage in the air, trash between our toes...ahh the beach life in Rabat.
That night we wandered the market, almost got ripped off on buying some spices, and ate more schwarmas.
