Rabat Things to Do

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These walls have been here for many hundreds of years. We did not have time to enter through the Gate, just enough time to admire and also take a few photos.

Being on a tour we had to follow our guide who led the track down to the Roman Relics of Chellah.

The City Walls provide a great view over Chellah.

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Located not far from our hotel we enjoyed this visit. Mohomed our Moroccan Guide appointed by the Government to be our official guide during our 7 day visit took control from our Tour Company Guide, an Englishman. It appears when all the tour companys like Globus, Insight, Cosmos, Trafalgar etc enter Morocco a Local guide accompanies the tour 24/7.

Mohomed spoke good English and had extensive Knowledge of all tourist sites. He loved his job and gave us all the information we required on the Roman Relics Of Chellah. The ruins were extensive.

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Tourists can go through the gates to see the outside of the Royal Palace, but we can’t go in.
There are gardens and a private mosque. Hassan II (the current king’s father) lived here until his death in 1999, but Mohammed VI chooses not to. He still lives in the house he had before he became king.

The Alaouits began ruling Morocco in 1666, and Mohammed VI is the 27th king in this dynasty. They were originally from Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The National Archaeological Museum has an excellent collection representing a variety of time periods and cultures, including Phoenician pottery, an Egyptian sphinx, and Roman bronzes.
Some ivory cups and decorated pottery date from 3800 B.C.

There is a really nice 2nd or 3rd Century statue of a young Berber, and another of a fisherman with an ownership mark on his chest. Some statues were headless—when there is a change in rulers, it is easier to carve a new head than a whole new statue.

The Museum was built in 1932.

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The mausoleum for Mohammed V is next to the Hassan Tower. Mohammed V, who died in 1966, was the current king’s grandfather.

There are ceremonial guards on horseback outside the complex, and others standing inside the mausoleum.

Non-Muslims are allowed to go in, and there is no fee.

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Pillars from the Roman ruins of Volubilis were going to be the supports for the world’s biggest mosque, but that Almohad king died and it never got built. The next king stopped construction and moved the capital to Fes. The pillars have been on this site since the 12th Century. The Hassan Tower, also 12th Century, was going to be the minaret for the mosque.
It is only half the height that was intended.

Mohammed V’s mausoleum is on the other side of the pillars from the unfinished tower.

The Kasbah is worth a walk around and the Almohad gate of Bab Oudaia is magnificent to see and inside the area you will find tourist shops & galleries. From a platform you see across the river to Sale.

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This tower was built about 1195 and is the minaret of an unfinished mosque. The minaret was planned to be the tallest at that time at 86 feet, but was unfinished and remains at just over 40 feet. Work stopped on the death of sultan Yagoub Al mansour in 1199. It stands amongst 200 'broken' pillars which supposedly show the intended size of the mosque.