TRAVELWITHZOE

I travelled to Rabat on the train from Tangier. It was my first Morocco train experience and to be honest it was pretty similar to trains in England, except the trains in Morocco had two levels of seating (like a ground floor and a first floor), which I found was quite cool and efficient.

I had booked an Airbnb in Rabat because I wanted some privacy after spending a lot of time on the trip with Couchsurfing hosts etc. I chose this specific Airbnb because of its central location and reasonable price (it was £11/night for a private room with a shared bathroom and shared kitchen).

The check-in process was kind of funny because I’d messaged the host via Airbnb to say I was outside the front door, and a child who must have been about 12 years old appeared and asked if I’m Zoe, explained that her mum was out and that she had seen the message on her mum’s phone, and showed me to my room (the family’s apartment is one level below the Airbnb apartment).

It was evening time by the time I arrived so I just walked around to find food on the street outside the apartment, which was great because there were loads of options and it was an interesting street with lots going on. I had dinner and sat people-watching for a while before going back to relax in my room.

The next day I didn’t have any specific plans – I just wanted to get to know Rabat a bit, so I decided to slowly head towards the beach, stopping for a late breakfast or early lunch on the way, as it was a pretty long walk.

I was thinking there might probably be beach chairs to rent so I was hoping to lie back on the beach and listen to some music etc., but I was surprised to see that the beach chairs they had at the beach were literal chairs rather than sun-loungers, and there wasn’t a sun-lounger in sight! There was no way I was paying for a sitting up chair, so I found a rock to lie on instead.

There were some people surfing at the beach and also a few surf schools there, and other than that it was mostly families having picnics etc. I was surprised that there weren’t many people or places selling food or drinks, but for the first time in my life I saw tea vendors by the beach. I thought to myself that was the most Moroccan thing that could possibly be being sold by the beach!

After spending a few hours at the beach, I decided to wander around the souks (markets) in Rabat. I hadn’t really done much shopping at all in Morocco, partially because I was travelling on a low budget, and partially because I was travelling with a small backpack which didn’t really have much space left in it so it would have been inconvenient to have to carry more stuff.

Usually when I’m travelling, I become a bit less disciplined with my budget towards the end, which definitely happened on this occasion because I decided to go to the silver souks and get a silver bracelet just because I felt like it and because I wanted a souvenir. I spent about an hour going in the different silver shops before I chose one, and it was interesting looking at all the different things they’d made.

I also spent a long time walking around the clothes and shoes souks where lots of vendors were selling fake Nike and Adidas etc. I was considering getting some trainers/sneakers because some of the fake shoes looked really cool and they cost about £10-£15, but in the end I decided I didn’t really need any. The souks in Rabat were probably my favourite place to shop in Morocco because they had a wide variety but it felt less touristy than Fes and Marrakesh.

I bought some dates and bananas etc to snack on, at them back at the Airbnb, did some online work and then went back out later for dinner and some more sugarcane juice (I was so obsessed with this one specific cane juice stand which mixed it with ginger and lime).

Rabat is the capital city and I’d say it seemed more modern/diverse than the other places I saw in Morocco, for example some local young people in Morocco were dressed in crop tops etc, which I didn’t see in other places. There was a slightly wider variety of food there too, for example there’s a Mexican restaurant and some different Asian restaurants, but I didn’t find anything particularly exciting for vegans apart from some nice falafel. The city felt busy enough to have a kind of buzz, but not too busy, which I liked.

After Rabat, I took the bus to Safi which will be featured in Morocco diaries part 10.