Rabat, Morocco

Our train rolled into Rabat station about 2pm and the tour group scattered to find lunch and a drink. I had high hopes for finding a bottle shop for a 6-pack. Aah Ramadan- We possibly chose the worst month ever to go see a muslim dominated country (99% Muslim, the remainder Jewish and a few catholics). Because the most part of the country cant eat during daylight most cafes, restaurants and sandwich bars have closed completely. The bars though- Well, if there were actually any bars in Rabat, they would be closed too.

I think I have got the hang of crossing these streets now- stare the drivers down as they charge at you, don't make any sign of stopping and hopefully they will swerve at the last minute. It hasn't let me down yet- Ill get the hospital to tell you when it does. After another sandwich effort with the last of the fluorescent mortadella we headed into the old Medina for a stroll.

The old Medina in Rabat is a patch of land that Spanish pirates claimed after being turfed out of Andalusia, Spain and they lived here and continued to plunder passing ships before getting into the slave trade and rounding up their 40,000 slaves. They have effectively turned this part of Morocco into another Andalusian coast- Whitewashed stacked up buildings, piazzas, thin cobblestone streets... We dropped anchor for a bit and knocked back a Moroccan whiskey while overlooking the coast and estuary.

Next stop was the Hussan II temple- All that remains now is a bunch of posts that look like the pinnacles. Theres a tower in one corner that was destined to be 80m tall- until the bloke died and the workers chucked in the towel. It now stands at 50m... or it does now with that extra metal rod poking out the top that they stuck on to make up the 50. On the way back to the hotel we checked out the Medina markets again- stalls lining street after street of genuine "Ray Dans", Okley and G&D. Clothes, fruit and veg, spices, furniture, Bongs and fez hats- The works. Come sunset, the place went nuts and everything closed in the blink of an eye. We walked up a street and by the time we got to the end we turned around and every shop in the Medina was closed- roller doors pulled, blankets over benches, and we seemed the only people left where there were hundreds just minutes ago.

After the Muslims had broken their fast and had their meal we hit a nearby restaurant for a local feed. Harate- a Vego mix of lentil, peas, coriander and egg in soup, Moroccan Salad - Pretty much the topping of a bruschetta on a bed of lettuce, and a Targine Hacceh - Meatballs and an egg in a cumin seed curry. Awesome feed, and at $8 who can complain? We walked the streets for a while after this and found a hotel lobby that sold beer. Score!

Next day we hit the Challah- its the roman ruins of the town and a palace built way back that has since been abandoned. Theres not much there, aside from a battalion of 44 rabid cats (a possible contender against my army of pigeons) and a few local guards. The gardens here are pretty nice- It was about 33 degrees in the sun and seemed 10 degrees cooler in the rain-forest style gardens they have. We could have almost made a fruit salad with the bananas, oranges, mangoes, grapefruit and almonds they had there if they were ripe.

I managed to squeeze in a haircut at a local Medina barber. "Parle vous englais?" "NON!" oh what fun... I think I asked for a trim in french after- The 6 old blokes that hung out at that barber store kept telling my barber in french to chop it all off and pretend its an accident. Clowns. Apparently the barber had already pulled that one on them going by the shine on their chrome domes. Waiting for the train to Fez, the announcement came out in french that it was 30 minutes delayed- Cool- We can make sandwiches. What we should not have done was eat said sandwiches at the traino. The burning eyes of 100 fasting Muslims in that station torched my soul as I slammed down some kind of fish in bread as fast as I could. Eternal damnation for a tuna sandwich- Damn Lyn got a better deal when she got rolled by the old lady she got a bandanna from.