WHS#44

Rabat was one of the most memorable short city visits I made in my trip to Europe and Morocco in May 2017. My family and I took a side trip from Spain to see Marrakesh, so we made our way to Tarifa, took the ferry to Tangier, and managed to strike a deal with a taxi driver to take us to Rabat. After driving by the "King's palace" and the famous Hassan Tower, he dropped us at a hotel, where we decided, due to our very small time budget, to take the night train to Marrakesh instead of staying the night. My family was content to laze around at the train station while waiting for the time, but I sure wasn't. I wasn't gonna have this WHS slip completely through my fingers. With the very little time I had, I decided to visit the one place I had wanted to the most: the Kasbah of the Udayas. Before the tight schedule had been implemented on Morocco, I had planned to visit Chefchaouen, so when I saw pictures of the Kasbah in Rabat, I figured it would be quite similar, with its picturesque old lanes covered in blue. Obviously, I can't say if it actually was similar, but it was a great experience. Just riding that taxi was a great experience in itself, with our talkative taxi driver pointing out another, much less convincing "King's palace."

While I imagined Chefchaouen to be like an idyllic fantasy, the Kasbah was more like a walk through history. Its characteristically Islamic monumental gates welcome you grandly, its castle-like walls towering majestically and lined with rich gardens. Walking in, I could instantly feel the history around me. All the buildings are quite old and blocky, but they have their charm in colors. Everything you see is blue and white paint or brown brick, which makes the streets extra atmospheric. Of course, this is a living district of the city, and people are clearly still going about with their daily lives here, but it's strangely peaceful. The crowds disappear when you step into the pretty blue alleys that twist and climb around the Kasbah. Eventually, we emerged from the streets to the lookout towards the mouth of the Bou Regreg river. It was an incredibly scenic spot, most especially thanks to the clean bright blue of the river down below. The cool salty wind and the seagulls really helped the atmosphere to sink in. Despite being in the bustling capital city of Morocco, the Kasbah has managed to maintain its atmosphere of coastal cliffside calm, and I think that's what separates it from any other place in Morocco. While I don't have a whole lot to judge it on, I'd say the Kasbah of the Udayas has a unique OUV all by itself.

Of course, the Kasbah is not all that Rabat has to offer. The medina looked to be quite interesting from the road, and the French colonial buildings were everywhere. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to visit the Chellah, which is another very interesting historic site in Rabat. I know that a few hours wasn't at all enough to judge Rabat by, but alas, that is all I had. While I don't think Rabat would be the biggest highlight on a trip to Morocco, it's definitely worth seeing for its unique and interesting historic sites. As a whole, it might just be the most historically diverse city in Morocco. You aren't limited to a medina here, but a whole city with a long story, a cultural crossroads of its own. I think Rabat definitely has OUV in its historic sites, and I'd love to return to see the rest of them.