Rabat-Chellah Hotel

The Medina in Rabat is nice...

by lichinga

The Medina in Rabat is nice and relatively calm: good to make the first experience if yiou never visited an Arab city before. Nobody will bother you offering as a guide or similar, the streets are wide and clean (on a medina standard). Entering from the new city side, on the right hand side there's the tourist market area, with carpets, pottery and all the similar stuff. The food market is almost in the same area, and it's interesting, though not exceptional.
Crossing all the way through the medina, you will find the wool market and then, on the rioght the ancient walls of the Kasbah des Oudaias: the most ancient area within the fortress. This is the only place you will meet guides in Rabat, but it's not strictly necessary to hire one an d, after all, there's not s many important places to be visited. Two of them I found most impressive: the sightseeing terrace on the corner of the Kasbah,
and the Andalusian gardens. The terrace is a great place to look at the Atlantic ocean shores... letting yout thoughts sailing over the waves and beyond... The typical muddy river runs a couple of hundred metres below you and separates Rabat from the ancient Salé, which has been founded before Rabat itself, possibly in the Roman Empire time. The Andalusian gardens (in the picture)are an oasis of peace and relax, one of those wonderful places Arabs were so good to create within apparently muddy walls: it's very good to enter, sit and have some rest amid the students who use to come here with their books. Beside the gardens there's a café (Café Maure), whose tables allow you an outstanding panorama over the ocean shores, the river mouth and Salé.
In the new city, close to the main mosque and just in face of Hotel Chellah, there's an Archeological Museum with important findings which date back since the Roman time (Volubilis is an important archeological site, close to Meknés). The museum is worth visiting, it will take you no more than 1 hour, for 20 DRH.

Morocco

by PeterWales

"MOROCCO."

We stayed at the hotel Chellah in Tangiers, a comfortable and clean hotel although a touch on the basic side. The food though was unexpectantly very good, I enjoyed the breakfasts where a Moroccan lady in national dress was in the restaurant making pancakes with your choice of filling along with the usual cereals and cooked breakfasts on offer. This hotel had a nice pool with pool bar & happy hour a lounge with a bar and also its own disco with bar although drinks can be expensive.Outside the hotel you are right in the middle of Tangiers, with its many shops & bazzars be careful of people offering to be your guide & show you around, these are conmen who will take you to the old walled city called medina get you lost then offer to get you back to your hotel for a ridiculous of amount of cash.If you want a guide ask at reception and they will get you an official government guide well worth it . The hotel Chellah has its own beach bar & restaurant & section of beach which is great & they will take you & pick you up in the hotel mini bus free of charge.Although Tangiers is a great city to experience never be out of your hotel after 10pm during the day its fine but not late at night enjoy your hotels entertainment. All in all an interesting place to visit but a week was long enough.