Rabat Local Customs

Donýt be surprised if people in the street start talking to you or greet you. We met several people that asked us where we were from and then welcomed us, or even without asking: Welcome in my country.

The correct way to anwser is: Marocco is a beautifull country.

One of the main streets in Rabat,
the Avenue Mohammed V.

Rabatis love to promenade here in the afternoon. You'll find a lot of cafés, some large hotels, the train station and the main post office.

If you follow the avenue to the south, it will lead you to the Great Mosque.
If you walk up north, you will get to the Boulevard Hassan II, and enter the Medina through the Bab El Djedid.

The medina of Rabat, its commercial pedestrianised centre has not as much charm as other Imperial cities like, Marrakesh or Fes, but in some respects, it was more rewarding for us. Indeed, Rabat does not live on tourism and people would leave us alone all the time, allowing us to soak up the atmosphere of a true Oriental bazaar.

Wandering in the medina without being followed by any opportunistic vendors and would-be guides may be one of the highlights of your trip to Morocco.

I took this picture at the entrance gate to the Royal Palace, well, it was not at all allowed... :-)

From the left:
- two white guards of the Royal Palace in blue hats armed with both a gun and small arm
- two black guards wearing dark green berets,
- a member of the staff of the Royal Palace in white jellabia, dark red hat (called "fez") and funny, yellow, slippers-like shoes.

There are guards in front of of Mausoleum of Mohammed V which are dressed in traditional costumes: mostly white with green, black and red addings. The most characteristic element of the costume is a green hat and white cape. Add old-fashioned gun of the guard.

Well, the picture of the guard and with him is a must for most visitors to Rabat, I am sure.

There are royal guards dressed in typical royal costumes in front of Mausoleum of Mohammed V. Green colour of the traditional royal dress symbolises royality while the red one, dark red, is a colour of Morocco and its national flag. The round and flat hat of the guards remind me traditional French hats weared by policemen. No wonder, there are many French influences in Morocco which was part of France till 1956.

Walking tiny off the beaten path streets of the medina I saw a strange and a bit horrible scene. I saw a local street stalls keeper selling fish, who caught a cat with a fish in a mouth. Probably the fish was just stolen by the cat. The guy was crying something and kicked the cat with his feet and with all his strenght. At first I thought he killed the cat. But no, the poor animal escaped.

Hmm... it seems that "useless" animals of Rabat, like cats and dogs have poor life there. I saw a few of them, probably homeless... It works better with, say, donkeys used (rarely) for transportation goods in the medina. When I met a little, thin and hungry cat in the gardens of the Kasbah of the Oudaya, I fed him with my sandwiches.

Rabatians (is it correct word ?) are a bit different than folks I met in other Moroccan cities. Just a few observations:

- most local guys wear in non-traditional (I mean muslim jellabias) way; younger folks in jeans or even shorts + T-shirt; older generations love simple grey or black jackets; if you want to see locals in jellabias take a bus/taxi or drive to Sale across the river;

- more locals (but still minority) can speak English;

- fewer shop keepers bother visitors and I didn't meet any "guide" or "parking guard" in Rabat :-).