6 September - Chefchauen to Rabat

Today’s destination is Rabat, 160 miles southwest to the coast. It's mostly secondary roads and a little bit of freeway.

On our way out of Chefchaouen, I noticed some signage on the road indicating slippery conditions. I didn’t think much of it, because slippery conditions usually apply to inclimate weather like rain or snow. However this warning was for the actual conditions at all times! I went through a corner at normal speed and felt a little slip of my rear wheel. I made it through, with an elevated heart rate! Then I heard a truck honk behind me. Mark had experienced the same thing to a greater degree. He also made it through okay, but we both realized that the polished and dusty surface of the pavement had very low grip, especially in the corners. We’ll be a little more cautious from now on….

We made our way across the western foothills of the Rif mountains and down to the rural farmlands on our way to the coast. It became quite flat and unremarkable, with many cornfields and other crop land. By mid day we were in search of lunch, but we had some difficulty finding an appealing restaurant. Most of the small towns had cafe’s where they were grilling meat out front with dead animals (goat?) hanging from the ceiling. While I’m sure whatever they were cooking may be delicious, we weren’t ready to broach this experience yet. We passed through several small bustling towns, but we kept moving.

We closed in on Rabat in mid-afternoon, and I sussed out a proper restaurant on Google maps. We sat down at the outdoor seating and enjoyed a small feast. Renee got the tapas sampler plate and I got a ground meat panini with a fruit smoothie. The portions were generous and we were recharged.

We finished the ride into Rabat and as we got into the city center, we discovered that yet again our riad (hotel) was in the medina (old town) area so we would have to carry our luggage a couple blocks to the hotel. We found some temporary street parking for the bikes and walked to the riad.

It turned out that my room was not available for the night (due to a reservation glitch on Expedia.com), but they had arranged for me to stay at another riad a few blocks away. No problem, I’m easy going.

We asked about parking and the host at the riad mentioned that street parking is not very secure for motorcycles, so it's best to move to an underground parking facility that she recommended. After we settled in, Mark and I moved the bikes to the parking facility on the other side of the downtown area. It was a bit of a hustle through the congested traffic circles to get there, but it worked out fine and we parked the bikes in the dimly lit rear corner of the underground car park. It was much more secure than out on the street.

We covered up the bikes and began our half mile walk back to the riad. We eventually became tired of carrying our luggage and flagged down a three-wheeled bicycle taxi to carry it for us. The taxi guy was a bit surprised to only carry our luggage; we were happy to walk, and we chatted with him as he followed us to our riad. It was nice. He didn't even want payment when we arrived, but I gave him 100 Moroccan dirhams (about $10 USD). 

That evening we did a little exploring of the medina and then found a Moroccan restaurant to eat. I got some soup and fruit. It was late and I didn’t want to eat too much.

7 September - Mauritanian Embassy

We had planned to visit the Mauritanian embassy today for our visa application. We woke up and had breakfast at the riad, and then got a taxi around 9:00am. It was a gated facility, and they greeted us immediately when we arrived. We were ushered to the first office for processing of our applications and they asked for our passports and photos.

Shortly after, they directed us to walk down the street to the Bank of Africa and pay the visa fee. Also while there, we needed to make prints of our hotel reservations in Mauritania because they had requested a paper copy. We had expected that they would require a letter of invitation, but were happy that only a hotel reservation was sufficient.

We paid the fee (~$50 USD) and then headed back to the embassy with our receipt. They processed our application, took fingerprints, and another photo. While we waited, the security guard who manages the front gate brought us Mauritanian tea in small glasses on a sliver platter! It was similar to Moroccan mint tea with sugar. It was a nice gesture and we thanked them. They told us our visa will be ready the next day at 2:00pm. Sounds great, see you tomorrow!

We returned to our hotel, then went out for some fast food for lunch. We ate at a place on the main strip in the medina. It was a cafe-type place that served “tacos”, hamburgers, and pizza. The local interpretation of a taco is more of a flat grilled burrito. It’s actually very good. Sometimes we’re in the mood for something quick...

That afternoon, I walked down to the beach and out onto the jetty. They have two huge jetties to protect the beach and each has a walk all the way out to the end. The beaches are made of fine dark sand and there's quite a bit of trash; nothing much to write about, but there were lots of people out having a good time.

Interesting to mention is that there are few women out at the beach or in the water, I woudl assume because of requirements for bearing skin. I saw one young woman out in the water with a body suit on, similar to a short sleeved wetsuit. On the streets in the city, we see most young women dressed in normal western attire, and older women in traditional hijab.

I spent the later afternoon exploring the Kasbah fortress out at the waterfront, and then got a beer at a restaurant on the water.

On the way back to the riad, I found many other interesting areas of the market, including a trades area where you could find men welding ironwork, plumbing supply stores, and other hardware. If I ever need to repair my motorcycle now I know where to look.

That evening we didn't feel like eating at a formal restaurant, so we went to a local place and got something light. I got an omelet with vegetables and some hot chocolate milk. Mark and Ranee got some fish and a salad with rice and sauteed vegetables.