I recently came back from a ten-day trip with one of my friends. We wanted to keep it cheap and simple, so we decided on visiting Morocco and then returning to our city through the south of Spain. As most of you probably know, Spain is directly north of Morocco and very close–it was only a one hour flight to Rabat, Morocco’s capital.
We stayed there for two days, which was the perfect amount of time. Starting with a walk through the medina, or the old city center, we walked past dozens and dozens of shops on our way to the Kasbah, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Rabat that had a nice view of the sea.
We then continued on to the Andalusian gardens, which was a nice spot to relax and enjoy the sunshine. The design and set up of the gardens are similar to Spanish ones, and a quick skim of Morocco’s history (even on Wikipedia will do) will tell you that it has a complicated and painful relationship with colonialism, particularly with Spain, but also with France and Portugal as well.
After enjoying the gardens, we went to the Hassam tower, which, if it had been completed, would have been the largest mosque in the world. It was, however, left unfinished, and now only the tower remains. The tower sits among a few dozen white pillars, and walking through the pillars leads you to the mausoleum of Mohammed V, the father of the current king, Mohammed VI. It’s intricacy covered every inch of the walls and ceiling and was breathtaking. Pictures don’t do it justice but I tried!
The last site on the agenda for that day was the Chellah, or ancient burial ground, of Rabat. (FYI PLEASE take a taxi to this destination! We walked there and it took forever, and the taxi back to the center was so cheap–learn from my mistakes please!) It was a lovely, if decaying, compound now home to a group of storks.
That night we made sure to sample some Moroccan cuisine, including tajin, a stew-like dish, and Moroccan salad, similar to Greek salad.
Our second day in Rabat was more relaxed, and started with a tram ride across the river to the commuter city of Salé, which is only a ten-minute ride away. There we trekked through the medina until we found the great mosque there, and visited the part that is open to non-Muslims, called the Médersa. It was covered in intricate carvings like the mausoleum, which La Alhambra in Granada is also famous for.
The next day, we started our journey to Chefchaouen (Chaouen for short), a small town in the mountains that is famous for its blue buildings and houses. We took the bus to the nearby city of Tetuan, and from there took a taxi (still an hour-long ride!) up into the mountains to Chaouen. We had two days planned here, which was more than enough. Besides walking around and admiring all the blue, there wasn’t much else to do. But it was nice to wander around the first day, and then relax the second day. We meandered from cafe to cafe reading and enjoying the nice weather. I took way too many pictures, but I couldn’t help it! Chaouen was adorable.
Chaouen concluded the Moroccan part of our trip, and we took two different taxis up to the border of Spain. After walking across, we got into a third taxi to take us to the center of Ceuta, a small city (30,000 people) on the tip of Morocco but that is still Spanish territory. (Why though?) Even with its proximity to Morocco and many Muslim residents, Ceuta still had a particularly Spanish feel. Surrounded by water on three sides, it has nice beaches and a lovely main pedestrian street. Some of it’s old walls and fortress still stand, and it is an easily walkable city.
The last leg of our journey was from Ceuta to Algeciras, aka mainland Spain, which we did in ferry. I’m sorry to say that there is not much to see in the port town of Algeciras–it’s all port, with nothing very touristy to do or see. The center is small and compact, with a pretty Plaza Mayor and some cute cafes. But other than that, it seems as though most people use Algeciras exactly as we did; as a place to pass through on our way to another place. The next morning we took the train back up to Madrid, and then switched trains to get home.
All in all, a nice trip because of the mix of touristy things to do and days where we were able to rest and relax.