6th June 1999, Sunday 0845, Rabat Hostel, Morocco, Africa. Bizarrely cloudy. Hmm. An interesting 20 hours or so, yesterday. On our way to the hostel we walked round an old Arabic wall gate bordering the old city, and over one of hundreds of metal plates in the pavement which pass for manhole covers here. Andreas passed over without hitch, I stepped onto the other side and dropped like a stone, only hindered in my descent by the other side of the plate which swung round and wedged a hook-type thing into my backside. Believing this to be the only thing supporting me from dropping into the horrors of a Moroccan sewer, I leaned on it, still carrying my full backpack. After realising I could reach the ground with my feet, albeit three or four foot lower than it had been previously, I clambered out, shaking badly and with a badly aching leg and a severely painful backside. I made it to the hostel and had to sit down, feeling faint and dodgy. Gemma, Andreas and some other bloke, (who still hasn’t told anyone his name yet) went out and got pizza. Really needed it.
2245hrs: Today has been good. Grumbles over first though. Mosquito/flea/ant bites from the hostel beds or cats (?) have got bigger over the day and itch. Arse still painful, but I managed to walk around okay today. We woke at around 0730, chatted and breakfasted. It’s really social here, and this morning we were chatting with two English girls on gap years teaching English in Rabat, a Canadian guy, a Japanese cycling-traveller bloke, Andreas, our nameless (but Swiss, how did we find out that but not his name?) companion and a v. quiet German girl. It’s great fun, and interesting to belong to a sort of nomadic community.
We began our walk around the city at around 12. We walked through the Royal Palace area round to the ‘Chellah’ where there were some fantastic Roman and Islamic ruins. The sketch shows the Muslim tower and the walls of the sanctuary – the Zaouia or mosque-monastery, and in the foreground the base of a Roman Arc de Triomphe, and the base of shop walls or somesuch. In the distance, (not very well drawn) the floodplain of the Oued Bou Regreg, and the buildings of distant Sale. There were clear remains of the forum, artisan chambers and the Capitol. Considering this was the Romans we’re talking about here, and we’re halfway down the coast of Morocco, I was very impressed.
After that we walked to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Hassan Tower, in time for sunset. The pillars of Mohammed V’s palace stand regularly between the New Mosque and the Tour Hassan – left unfinished due to his untimely demise. His mausoleum was fantastic, the ceiling was covered with 22carat gold, if our rather over-enthusiastic guide was to be believed, and the highly polished marble floors came from all over the Mediterranean. There was a resident Khafi, or religious leader, reading the Qu’ran. We ate hariri for dinner – absolutely delicious and dirt cheap at 10 dirhams each for hariri, bread and chips. Going to bed – am knackered.
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