Enchanting Morocco
12 September 2018
We left Porto Santo just after 0900 on Tuesday 4th September with 480nm to Rabat.
Our forecast was for winds 8-12kts backing from NNE to N and then NNW, but running out about 150nm from Rabat. That was pretty much what we got with SOG for the first two days a tad over 5kts and a beam or close reach. The wind eased and veered so we could not hold the rhumb line for about 12 hours so SOG dropped to 4.5kts. Then with 120nm to go we lost the wind and had to motor for the last 24 hours.
We arrived off the Wadi Bouregreg about 1000 on Saturday 8th September and called up the marina on VHF 10. A pilot boat came out and guided us along the channel and through the bustle of the rowing boats ferrying folks across the river, to the reception pontoon where customs, immigration and police were waiting for us.
Clearance was easy and straightforward, and the officials were charming and polite. The police officer looked in a couple of lockers and drawers and they brought a sniffer dog on board to scout around the deck. The dog appeared to have been doing quite a lot of sniffing and inhaling as it looked quite spaced out …
We were escorted to a berth and helped to tie up. All was well.
So, time for some organisation and tourismo. SIM card and data package bought in the Sale medina nearby and then exploration.
Rabat is lovely. We took the rowing boat ferry across the river, walked the 12th century Oudaia Kasbah, lost ourselves in the medina, took the modern and frequent tram service into the centre of Rabat, visited the imposing 12thC Bab el-Rouah (Gate of the Winds – well it is a must for sailors), strolled to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V (re-united the country achieving independence from France and Spain; grandfather of the current king Mohammed VI) which is guarded by horse-mounted soldiers and others at the entrances and inside the mausoleum, and viewed close up the eight centuries-old Hassan Tower.
The people are really very welcoming, incredibly polite and utterly charming. We started to walk into the magnificent grounds of the palace when a security guy stopped us (Morocco seems not to have bought into the need for signage and tourist information) and was very nice about it, patiently explaining what we had to do and where to go. One of the guards inside the Mohammed V mausoleum called Phil over after he had taken his photograph and asked to see the photo. Then he said “please delete”. Seemed as if a breach of etiquette had occurred but no, he pulled himself up to his full height, composed himself and said “now photograph”. He just wanted to be sure we got his best profile …
With the Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman film ‘Casablanca’ being our number 1 film of all time, we had to visit the city. So, train to Casa Port, then ‘petit-taxi’ to the Hassan II mosque for the 1100 guided tour – non-Muslims can visit between prayer times but must join a guided tour which starts at the museum and where you buy tickets.
The Mosque is the third largest in the world (after Mecca and Medina) enabling 25,000 men to pray on the hall floor and 5,000 women to pray in the gallery. It took seven years to build with 35,000 craftsmen working on it and opened in 1993 – Hassan II was the father of the current king. The ornamentation, the quality and range of the materials, the design, the scale and the art in the work are utterly outstanding. It is a WOW. We will not go into gender issues but we were reassured that if more than 5000 women turned up and there were fewer than 25,000 men then the surplus women could pray on the hall floor … at the back … behind the men …
Apparently the true cost is unknown but the figure of US$800 millions was quoted to us but with the caveat that it was a substantial underestimate.
As for Humph and Ingrid, we walked to Rick’s Café – remember: “of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”. We had a lovely Moroccan meal BUT …. NO GIN … NO BEER … NO WINE … It is alcohol free … However, it is very nicely appointed with 1940s music, a piano if you can play “As Time Goes By”, and delightful staff. You have to be sympathetic to the Moroccan and Muslim attitude to alcohol – it is their country but it would have been nice to toast Rick, Ilsa and of course Captain Louis Renault with a martini.
We wandered through the old medina but really Casablanca offers little other than the Hassan II Mosque.
Well, more tourismo is planned – first Marrakech and Essaouira and later next week to Ouarzazate and the south-east of the country.