Moroccan Imperial Cities – 2010

Day 2 – Saturday, May 1 – This morning we awoke to take our trip to Rabat and the Hassan Tower. We then continued on to the Mohamed V Mausoleum and the Kasbah of Oudayas. We then proceeded on  to Meknes to see the gate of Bab El Mansour, the Moulay Ismail Stables and Dar El Beida. When that was completed, we drove on to Rabat along the coast of the Atlantic and then on to Fes. This trip is 293 kelometers if done by car on the shortest route.

The land along the coast is as green as Ireland. I was quite surprised by that sight of green grasses and trees. There were camels and goats seen all along the way to remind us that we weren’t in Santa Monica anymore.

The Hassan Tower is the incomplete tower of the the incomplete mosque that both were to be the worlds largest. They were started by Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, the third Calif of the Almohad Caliphate in 1195. He was a member of the Almohad Caliphate, a Berber Muslim empire in the Meghreb and Iberia.

What is a Caliphate, you might ask? A caliph is a chief Muslim ruler. The are ruled by a caliph is a caliphate. Look up the origins of the name California. It is very interesting.

When Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur died in 1199, the work stopped on the project. The tower is 44 meters tall, about half of it’s intended height. The rest of the mosque was left unfinished with only the beginnings of some walls and 348 columns being constructed.

The tower, which was made of red sandstone and the unfinished mosque make up the historical complex at the modern Mausoleum of Muhammed V.

“Sailing Away,” the follow up novel to “The Adventures of the Smith Family” has some interesting action here in Morocco. Ralph had a love here in his distant past and left her behind. He finds her again when he sails back to Morocco. “Sailing Away,” is an adventure and action novel worth reading for anyone who is interested in history and romance.