Conference Excursion: Chellah / Embassy Building Site / La Tour Hassan

Brace yourselves...for heaven on Earth. If this blog was at all Biblical I'd call it The Garden of Eden. If it were a Disney movie I'd called it 101 Storks. For now, let's just call it by its given name, Chellah (pronounced shellah). Chellah is just outside of Rabat and is one of those places you can be mesmerized by without knowing an ounce of history (which is exactly what I did). The site is particularly known for its storks which inhabit what seems like every inch of the property (although no one got pooped on). In addition to the wildlife, the site was covered in flowers and fruit trees and, since it was spring, the ground was painted a lush, green all while being lined with various Roman and Merinid ruins. As I am known to do, I proceeded to take an absurd number of photos. But seriously, I now believe in the concept of the Garden of Eden. And in the wise words of one of the other Fulbrighters, "when I have kids, I will tell them that this is where babies come from."

Front gate -- the walls were added in by the Merinids

Touristy dude playing Gnawa music

Walls and flowers from the inside

Have camera, will travel

Someone made a meta photography joke about this shot

Kaitlin and Mike

First view of Chellah and the river

The main section of the site

STORKS!

Seriously, they were everywhere in this complex

Other side of the site

Basima and Christina

Mosaic detail on the main tower

See 'em all?

I really liked this one

Me very much behind the history tour

Moroccan youth enjoying their afternoon

Christina, Annie, Danielle, Basima

Ryan, Sarah, Anny

Red poppies!

Not sure what type of flower this is, but it's beautiful

Stork nests--straight out of Dr. Seuss

Coolest section of the site

Top bird in its nest on the main tower

So much greenery

Religious carvings

And back to the storks

Even storks have babies (to the right)

Panorama-esque of the stork nests on the ruins

Hi there

Coming in for a landing

Building a nest

So majestic

Nests atop the ruins

Mosaic details

Storks scratch themselves a lot

See?

Stork couple!

Dominique + Hanna

Look at all the baby storks atop that tree!

Me, Kaitlin, Sarah

Sweet architectural detail on the outside walls

So beautiful

Could almost be a castle in Scotland!

Also a part of out itinerary was a visit to the American Embassy building site in Rabat (this was technically before Chellah, but Chellah was clearly way more photogenic and majestic). It wasn't initially a part of our afternoon excursion tour on the original itinerary and I was more than a little annoyed that it was going to take away time from our sightseeing. The talk was way more interesting than I bargained for, mainly because we had some interesting questions thrown at the presenter about building embassies (eg. what nationalities are never allowed on an embassy building site due to past precedents of espionage and bugging).

The last stop on our tour was La Tour Hassan, which I had previously snapped outside photos of during our failed hotel attempt. We took our time and walked by the small mosque in the complex and then into the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. My favorite part of the complex was the cheeky guard out front who looked a lot like Sacha Baron Cohen.

Women praying outside the mosque

Don't often see women praying out in public like this

The mausoleum and mosque

Nice gates

Funneling through the front entrance

Beautiful carvings

Inside the Mausoleum

Exiting with Hassan Tower in the back--all that was built
of a mosque that was supposed to be finished many years ago

I made sure to gesture to my camera and ask the guard's permission to
take a photo since we were warned they didn't like it. Trust me, this guy did.

He posed the heck out of it and even smiled.
Doesn't he look like Sacha Baron Cohen's Moroccan twin?!

The tower that gives the site (and our hotel) its name