Rabat Continued

Granted yesterday's post wasn't very inspiring. Frankly I'm a little disappointed with myself. Hopefully the rest of my Rabat pictures will make up for it though!

My hotel was in a great location, at the corner of the souk and right on a river that comes out of the Atlantic. So looking out my window this is was I saw:

The first full day in Rabat was sunny and beautiful which was a welcome change from the overcast, rainy, and cold weather I left behind in Istanbul. So we made sure to take advantage of the weather and walked around the city enjoying the water and some of the older, walled in sections of Rabat.

Subsequent days were sadly not as pleasant as the weather turned overcast, rainy, and cold. But we persevered and explored during our free time anyway! And while Francois Hollande had the poor grace to be in town and bar us lowly regular people from the Mausoleum of Mohammad V, we were able to go back another (equally overcast) day to see it.

The tower is actually a minaret for the mosque across the square

It's no Taj Mahal but it's also nothing to sneeze at. Also, that is a ridiculous expression.

It was so overcast I decided it looked better in B&W

 Inside the mausoleum was quite impressive though. I particularly liked the domed ceiling.

And despite their rather stern demeanor the guards were quite friendly and chatty and willing to pose for pictures.

We also paid a visit to to one of the walled off older sections of the city.

Love me some fancy doors!

I felt like I was back in Tunisia! I think there should be more blue and white cities. How could a person not want to live in one? This place was particularly peaceful as we couldn't hear any of the traffic or noise from the city outside.

Our last day we visited the Atlantic and found that an interesting group of people had already laid claim to the choicest of ocean front property.

A cemetery on the beach? Yup. As far as we could see stretched cemeteries. They saw that you can't take it with you; apparently these folks and their great view disagree,

That's not a blurry picture; that's sea spray

It was very windy and the ocean was very turbulent. That did not stop us or others from braving a soaking to walk along the pier that extended out into the ocean though. And while we were as salt encrusted as a good tuna when we got off the beach we did manage to avoid any serious soaking.

The weather also didn't stop the few people on the beach learning how to kite surf, a couple surfers insane enough to brave being smashed against the pier, and the football game happening on the beach. I did however resist the urge to take off my shoes and socks and wade in the water.

Is Rabat an exciting city? No. Not at all. Can you find things to do, eat, and buy while you're there? You bet. So while I get to check Morocco off my list, Marrakesh is still on it!

Rabat...Is Not Terribly Exciting

One of the great things about living in Istanbul is that almost everywhere is so much closer! Which means flights are shorter, cheaper, and I'm not obligated to use American owned airlines. It's so wonderful not being chained to the jerks at United or Delta. That doesn't mean that everywhere I go though is super exciting. For example, at the beginning of April I had to go to Rabat for work. Eh. I've always wanted to go to Morocco so at least I've checked the country off my list; but by Morocco I mean Marrakesh. There's not a whole to do see or do in Rabat.

I absolutely love that this was on the desk in my hotel room.

Not that it was a terrible trip though. I still enjoyed myself but there are only so many times that you can wander around the same small souk, you know?

My future house will have a tent covered terrace

It's worth the trip just to have real Moroccan food though. For me that was the highlight. Tagine, chicken pastille, real Moroccan tea...heaven!

Plus anywhere where menus are real leather!

Moroccan food is so good. The chicken pastille is probably my favorite thing so I was thrilled to have some.

Yumm!

And it may have been small but I still had a lot of fun walking through the souk.

Camels, camels everywhere!

I also tried this random fruit that I still don't know the name of. It was kind of watermelony in texture but tasted like...well...sweet I guess. It was a very subtle flavor. and it turned my lips and tongue a bright purple-red!

I did not try these

It was a good thing this was a work trip with per diem since I did a fair amount of shopping! A jebella, a couple abeyas, some scarves, dresses, a blanket...had to sit on my suitcase to get it zipped shut!

See the blue stripey scarf? I bought that :)

You see the most interesting things walking around. I loved this cat; he was just posing there, letting you know that he know he really is a lion at heart!

There were also completely random pet stalls. Mostly there were fish and birds but we also saw some lizards and a whole lot of turtles!

I really hope these don't become someone's dinner

Even though I didn't do a lot, I took a lot of pictures! It was mostly rainy and overcast while there but we had one bright sunny day and I took advantage so look out for a follow on post with pictures of the city and the Atlantic!

Behind the T-walls: Morocco part 4, "Mehndi"

I made an appointment at the Henna Cafe Marrakech, while in Morocco. The artist came to my Riad, and did all of the designs by hand! 

First, she mixed the red henna powder with eucalyptus oil, and water (I think?), and some other natural oils. It makes a thick green paste which she put into a syringe, to pipe the mixture on like decorative frosting. The needle attachment actually made it easier for her to do a more intricate design. Note, there is no injecting here, just decorating on the skin, not IN it...

She started with my feet.

Then did my hands. I chose to do my palms, rather than the tops of my hands. I don't know why, I just wanted it that way.

The design came out looking like this.

 Once it's on and dry, you put a lemon juice and garlic mixture on it, and leave it covered overnight to 'set.' In the morning, you just peel the paste off, and it makes a rich red color, that lasted about 2-3 weeks, and turning beautiful shades of brown and red and yellow as it fades.