Rabat
Our visit to Rabat the capital city of Morocco was a quick stop over on a long drive. Our driver showed us around this beautiful city, including the huge palace and Grand Mosque and Tomb. There were many local families visiting the mosque and enjoying the green courtyard in the evening sun. It is always striking to see women in full Burka, with their hands and face covered when it is so incredibly. We estimate that in most places we have travelled it is only 2 to 3% of the women that we have seen are in full Burka, this was much higher in the Sahar dessert, where it very rare to see a woman without her face covered. Our guides tell us this signifies “a stricter husband” or “jealous husband”, two of them joked that it does not necessarily mean a stronger faith. Our guide Sherif explained clearly it should be a woman’s choice, elaborating his wife choses to wear a scarf, but only 2 of 4 of his sisters do. He was confident that in most parts of Morocco this choice would not cause any harm to the woman and was dismayed by what has been happening in Iran.
We were shocked by the immaculate cleanliness of Rabat. There were many beautiful gardens, all very manicured. The king of Morocco is reportedly very respected, and the capital city where he lives, is an area that Moroccans are proud of. There is an amazing opera house/theatre, the outside appearance to rival Sidney’s Opera House (unfortunately I did not get a good picture) and the second tallest building in Africa, the Mohammed VI tower, it is currently finishing construction, it will have very high value real estate, for both offices and condos.
