For the first couple of weeks I was able to get out and about, and will document what I visited over several posts. I will also record a few impressions of life under lock down here. It will make a change from endless news about the virus. Rabat is a place with an extensive history and several quirky museums and gardens, with the first significant river I have seen in Morocco. The river Bou Regreg, which is not very large (though it is the 3rd longest river flowing from the Atlas Mountains to the Atlantic that is not seasonal), separates Rabat from Salé on the northern bank. They are effectively one city, with Rabat having all the important buildings of a country’s capital and most of the top end housing, whilst Salé is where the workers live and where any significant industry is. Rabat has a population of about 1½ million and Salé is somewhat larger. You can cross the river on a road bridge, a tram bridge and the old way for 2½ Dirham (about 20p) by boat. This one had the boatman plus 6 of us and we are going towards Salé, so Rabat is behind the boatman. It only takes a few minutes. He rows standing up facing the way he is going. It looks very odd and must be hard work. Morning and evening ‘rush hours’ it is virtually continuous work for 4 boats.

Rabat has only been the capital since the French took over in 1912. The earliest remains are Roman at Chellah on the eastern outskirts of Rabat. Confusingly the Roman name was Sala, though it is on the Rabat side of the river. Sala had a population of about 3,000.

This was one of 2 parallel main streets. The houses were built on several levels uphill on the right.

Chellah later had a Medersa (Moslem school for training priests) which is now being renovated, so I was unable to explore inside.

The Medersa is at the centre of the photo with part of the Roman remains at the bottom right. The white building on the upper right is the tomb of an important cleric. Behind down hill from the tomb is a very murky old well pond, where an elderly lady keeps eels which she feeds with hens eggs. I did not go very close as I did not want to pay her for this as she only does it for the tourists. There were also a lot of the most neglected looking cats I have seen in Morocco there.

The Medersa had a hammam (baths) which has been restored, but is unreachable due to the work on the Medersa.

The light coloured roofs are of the Hammam, seen from across the Roman ruins, with the wall of the later fort on the left. On top of the hill in the background is El Youssefia, a village which is now an upmarket suburb of Rabat. I walked there via paths and tracks, but took no photos there.

After the Medersa the site became a fort which was abandoned after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 which caused a lot of damage despite being 350 miles away.

The main gate of the fort.

This photo shows the strategic importance of the site with the river Bou Regreg at centre left, and the restored walls.

Nowadays Chellah is important for storks nests, of which there are more than 100 inside the old walls and nearby. About 7% of them are rebuilt each year, so presumably the breeding life of a stork is about 15 years. There are several dozen nests in this photo, including those on the minaret of the old Medersa.

There is also a collection of trees from around the world, but they are not well labelled.

Now there is no football on the TV here, I see a lot of Chellah every day on the TV. There is a very long YouTube video of Moroccan / Andalusian folk music filmed at Chellah in 2016 that the family play frequently. Most of you will know that my musical ability is virtually non-existent, but I have noticed a couple of points.

Moroccans sing sitting down, and only use a ‘head’ voice, so it all sounds very ‘light’ to me, with no bass notes. They all sound to me like tenors.

The ‘orchestra’ uses a mixture of Moroccan instruments and Western classical ones, but the violins and violas are played as if they were cellos, with the base resting on the player’s lap. There are no wind instruments, just various string instruments and a variety of drums and tambourines.

We have been in ‘lock down’ for a while now, and it has got stricter lately. To go out you need an authorising paper. The police enforce this and there are fines of up to about £120 or 3 to 6 month prison sentences for breaking the rules. These are the same as the French rules apparently. You are only allowed out to get food, for medical reasons or to go to the bank. You are not allowed out for exercise, or to visit other households. Public transport is completely stopped and only lorries can travel outside towns. The army has been driving armoured vehicles around Casablanca. Morocco has an authoritarian regime anyway, and they are impressing the rules on the population by visually enforcing them and showing it on TV. There has been no panic buying here, and the government is cracking down on anyone putting prices up. They show pictures of full warehouses and they also keep showing the same empty ward waiting fully staffed for cases. Only about 130 cases so far, and 4 deaths. Almost all traced to people coming from other countries. So Morocco is really in the ‘containment’ stage still. As there are only about 250 intensive care beds for 40 million people, this is wise. Seems to be working at the moment.

This house has no external windows, all light is through the glass roof. It does have a roof terrace, and I have persuaded them to put a plastic stool up there, so when it is fine I can get some fresh air whilst reading. I have found an NHS exercise podcast that I am trying to follow up there as well. I need to get some exercise of some sort. However I can only get about 30 steps in before having to return the same way. The walkable part of the terrace is U shaped, strung with washing lines on  one side and electric cables on another, so I have to look where I am going. Am posting this today as it is a wet day. The weather has not been very good since we went into lock down, but is due to improve soon. Yesterday was lovely, but the family all think it is very cold and far too early in the year to sit on the terrace. They sit inside of an evening wearing a tracksuit, beanie and fleece. However as they also have bare feet and sandals I think a pair of socks would do a lot to help them warm up.

More to come next week. Inshallah.