Morocco: The Sights

We saw so many interesting sights during our week in Morocco, so I thought I'd highlight the main ones (including links containing more info), beginning with Chellah, the site of Roman ruins in Morocco's capital city of Rabat. Rabat is about an hour north of Casablanca, so we drove up there for the day. Chellah was basically like a park, and it was peaceful and beautiful.

One of the most surprising things about Chellah were the storks. Living in Poland was the first time we ever saw storks in the wild. They were abundant in the summer but in the winter they traveled south. Morocco must be one of their migratory stops because there were literally dozens of them here in Chellah. We saw far more storks in Morocco than we ever saw in Poland.

This is the minaret of Hassan II Mosque, located on the Atlantic Ocean in Casablanca. I knew that this mosque was relatively new (completed in 1993), that it was quite large, and worth a visit. So I wouldn't have skipped it, but I have to admit I wasn't super excited about it given that it's so new. However, it strongly exceeded my expectations. Not only is the minaret absolutely stunning—and gorgeously designed and decorated—but the entire complex of the mosque, both inside and out, is a feast for the eyes. Old style craftsmanship was employed to build a new mosque that's a nod to the old ways. The entire complex is just breathtaking. And a huge bonus is that this is one of the few mosques in the world that allows non-Muslims inside. (Though I didn't take photos of the inside of the mosque, because the lighting was dark.)

This is the inside of the mosque's museum, which is on the same property as the mosque but in a different building, and where they have exhibits about all of the various techniques used to build and decorate the mosque. And by the way, in case you're wondering about the name of the mosque, Hassan II (that's Hassan Deux for you French speakers) was the prior king. (His son is the current king.) Hassan built the mosque for his 60th birthday (talk about treating yourself!). The mosque is the third largest in the world, second only to Mecca and Medina. Inside it holds about 25,000 worshippers and outside about 85,000. Our guide told us that it fills to capacity both inside and out every night of Ramadan for evening prayers.

Next up is the city of Tangier. We drove Peter and Jessa's dusty but trusty Honda Accord north for the long Thanksgiving weekend. (Tangier is about a three hour drive from Casablanca.) Once there we stayed in an Airbnb with a rooftop deck that had a stunning view, as you can see in this picture. (That's the Atlantic Ocean in the background.) Tangier is situated on the corner of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and it's an absolutely gorgeous city. Our time was mostly spent in the old city center ("medina") and our Airbnb was in the fortified part of the old city ("kasbah"). The streets were narrow, steep, and mostly only for pedestrians.

In Tangier we visited two museums. The first was the Kasbah Museum. This picture shows the main structure of the museum. It was built in the seventeenth century as the sultan's home. The architecture, tile, and plaster work at the museum were more impressive and interesting to me than the actual artifacts in the museum. The sultan definitely had good taste in real estate!

Our next stop was the American Legation Museum, fittingly visited on an American holiday (Thanksgiving). There's an interesting history between Morocco and the United States, and I'm here to give you some fun facts for your cocktail banter at upcoming holiday parties. So here goes: the oldest and longest foreign ally of the United States is . . . . . Morocco! Yep, in 1777 some wise Moroccans decided to recognize this very new country (actually, we were still fighting a war at that time) and offer our ships safe passage through the Strait of Gibraltar, which is where Tangier sits. In 1786 the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship was signed and the rest, as they say, is history. These two countries have been allies ever since. In the nineteenth century, the United States established a Legation (which is basically the same as a Consulate or Embassy) in Tangier. A few years later the Moroccan government gave the United States a building (site of the museum) for a physical location for the Legation. The museum is housed in that original Legation. (About fifty years ago a modern Consulate was built elsewhere in Tangier.) The museum is basically a museum to the relationship between the two countries.

On the Atlantic ocean not far from Tangier is what they call the Cave of Hercules. It's just an opening onto the ocean in a small cave, and its shape closely mirrors that of Africa. That's all there is to it, but as you can see it's quite beautiful.

And finally, we have the town of Chefchaouen. This little remote town, which is all painted blue, is nestled next to a hillside in the Rif Mountains in the north of Morocco. From Tangier it was about a two hour drive to the southeast.

The medina of Chefchaouen is painted in all different shades of blue. As to why, I've read a lot of stories and the one that makes most sense is that it's done to attract tourists. Which you might think would take away some of the charm, but it shouldn't, because regardless of the reason for why it's blue, this town is drop-dead gorgeous. When I first saw pictures from other visits Peter and Jessa have made there (Mary also went on her trip to Morocco last year) I knew I had to see this place. And I'm so glad I did. I've never seen anything like it. The streets are narrow and winding (and steep!) and the best word I can think of to describe Chefchaouen is: pretty.

And there you have it, my overview of the sights in Morocco. My next post will be about some tourists in Morocco that you might recognize. Stay tuned!
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