Imperial Cities Tour From Rabat

Imperial Cities Tour From Rabat

All the history of Morocco is registered on the walls of the imperial cities. A fascinating and adventurous tour for first time travelers to Morocco. Private Tour, in private car, private local guides and private visits.

This tour is available in 4/5* hotel

Itinerary

Day 1: Rabat arrival

Stop At: Rabat Old Town, Rabat Center, Rabat 10030 Morocco
Arrival Rabat airport, welcoming by your driver and transfer to your hotel, time at your disposition, night in Rabat
Duration: 45 minutes

No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: overnight in Rabat

Day 2: Rabat - Meknes

Stop At: Hassan Tower, Boulevard Mohamed Lyazidi, Rabat 10030 Morocco
we visit Rabat, a Unesco World Heritage, the first of the Imperial Cities where we see the city’s Medina and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. Guarded by two mounted, traditionally robed spear-carrying ‘lancers’, it is built in traditional style, the grandfather and father of the present king are buried here and its contemporary mosaics and spiral designs make a fascinating comparison with the adjacent Hassan Mosque, a wonder of the medieval Moorish world with its great minaret left unfinished when its founder died in 1199. If completed it would have been the largest building in the world at that time. The harbour is full of traditional fishing boats and on the opposite river bank is Sale, Rabat’s twin city where Robinson Crusoe was enslaved before his final escape to Brazil. Route for Meknes, arrival and accommodation in Riad hotel
Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in 3* hotel or Riad

Day 3: Meknes - Volubilis - Fez

Stop At: Bab Mansour Gate, 17, Rue Ain El Anboub et Rue Lalla Aicha Adouia Quartier HAMMAM JDID, Meknes 52000 Morocco
"it is a place made for painters ... the beautiful abounds ... the beautiful runs the streets, I am stunned by all that I saw, I am at this moment like a man who dreams. "

Eugene de Lacroix said of Meknes

Breakfast, guided visit to MEKNEs, a Unesco World Heritage, the 16th century capital whose ruler, Moulay Ismail, modelled himself on France’s ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV. After plundering his entire country he opened his amazing palace decorated with the most intricate colourful stucco work, huge beautifully detailed bronze doors and stunning mosaics

MEKNES One of Morocco’s most beautiful historical cities, its twenty two Kms of town wall, monumental gates and the ruins of an immense palatial complex form an impressive and curious backdrop for the meeting point of Morocco’s main roads. The 17th century sultan Moulay Ishmail wanted to create a royal capital here that would rival Versailles. He had an army of bricklayers, black slaves and several hundred captured Christian slaves build 120km of town wall, dream palaces, stables for 12,000 horses, hanging gardens watered by a four-hectare pond and immense storage sheds. After almost a century of construction, he left one of the most beautiful cities in Moorish-Arabic style.

The tour of this "Moroccan Versaille" and sightseeing includes Bab El Mansour, considered as the finest gateway in Morocco. First we will pass through the triumphal arch Standing at sixteen meters high with an eight meter long arch, the intricately patterned triumphal arch is argued to be the most beautiful in Morocco. Enter Place El-Hedime (Square of Ruins) which links the medina and the kasbah. The square is lined with modern residential buildings and a covered food souk (market).

Volubilis, the westernmost outpost of the Roman Empire. Wonderfully isolated, set amongst gorgeous rolling hills and olive groves, it is a haunting sight, silent and almost ghost-like. Here our guided tour will ensure you appreciate Volubilis’s historic importance and its stunning mosaics:

The Roman ruins of Volubilis, a UNESCO World Heritage site, stretched out over 40 hectares, are the most well preserved ruins in Morocco. Route for Fez, arrival and installation in your hotel or Riad
Duration: 5 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in hotel or Riad

Day 4: Fez

Stop At: Medina of Fez, Fes 30000 Morocco
After breakfast, the whole day will be devoted to discovering Fez, a Unesco World Heritage and the oldest of the imperial cities, home to the world’s first university dating from the 9th century and one of the most complete medieval cities in existence. Surrounded by huge defensive walls, it seems suspended in a time warp, somewhere between the Middle Ages and the modern. But it’s more than that, it is a living city almost devoid of tourists, where whilst wandering amongst its amazing 9,000 tiny streets you experience its noisy hawkers selling everything from colorful vegetables, to delicious middle eastern pastries flavored with cinnamon and honey. Mind your backs for the passing of the only transport-mule or donkey! The haunting sound of the call to prayer resonates over the traditional rooftops whilst skilled artisans noisily beat metal into pans and intricate metal-ware as they have for centuries. . Visit of the medieval Medina. You will also explore the famous souks where craftsmen still labor in the age-old oriental tradition. Lunch on your own. Continue sightseeing in the afternoon.

Within the medina, we will the following historical sites:

►Medersa Bou Inania: An (Islamic school) founded by Abu Inan Faris that is highly decorated from floor to ceiling. The medersa is one of the few religious places in Morocco that is accessible to non-Islamic tourists.

►Kairaouine Mosque: Morocco’s second largest mosque was built by Fatima in 857. The Kairaouine Mosque became the home of the West's first university and the world's foremost center of learning at the beginning of the second millennium.

►University of Al-Karaouine: Founded in 859, this university is one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Muslim world and is considered the oldest continuously operating institution of higher learning in the world.
Duration: 5 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in hotel or Riad

Day 5: Fez - Marrakesh

Stop At: Koutoubia, Medina Jamaa El Fenna, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
After breakfast, depart for Marrakesh by Highway (6h) or by National road, the middle Atlas mountains and cedar forest (8h)

Arrival in Marrakech and installation in your hotel or Riad
Duration: 6 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in hotel or Riad

Day 6: Marrakesh

Stop At: Medina of Marrakesh, Derb Fhal Zefriti n06 Derb Fhal Zefriti, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
After the breakfast, guided visit of Marrakesh, an Unesco world Heritage, once an oasis on the caravan routes to the south, it became a natural centre of commerce and the capital city during medieval times. Wealth poured in from Moorish Spain and the city you see today was built. Surrounded by almost intact medieval walls little has changed and in the central square Jemaa el Fna is one of the world’s greatest spectacles. that is listed by UNESCO, as a Oral heritage of humanity. Here, especially atmospheric at dusk, street restaurants serve all kinds of delicacies with mouth-watering aromas filling the air, surrounded by what only can be described as a medieval circus. Storytellers recount tales of old, whilst fire-eaters and skilled acrobats entertain onlookers. Scribes write letters and open-air dentists and barbers industriously practice their trades. Have your shoes cleaned, watch snake-charmers and see herbalists dispensing mystical remedies. Musical troupes lithely move to the soulful heavy drumbeat which thuds hypnotically in the balmy warm of the Moroccan evening. This eclectic mix makes Marrakesh one of the most exciting and romantic places you will ever visit..

Visit the Bahia palace:

Is one of the outstanding Moroccan historical monuments that was built in the late nineteenth century. As most of the Arab-Andalusian palaces, it contains beautiful gardens and lovely patios, and has 150 rooms lavishly decorated. The construction of the palace was undertaken by the Moroccan architect El Mekki on behalf of the Grand Vizier Ba Ahmed ben Moussa called Ba Hmad(former slave) (1841-1900) to house his four wives and 24 concubines.

Under the French protectorate, General Lyautey, settled in the palace.

The Badi palace

It was Raised by Ahmed al-Mansur, a replica of the Alhambra, and made ​​with the most precious materials from Italy (marble), Sudan (gold dust), India (porphyry) and even China (jade ). The Badi ,struck his contemporaries by his Koubba al zoujjaj his "glass dome" made from ​​translucent crystal. But all this disappeared,dismantled, by Sultan Moulay Ismail 1695. This palace was reserved for the reception of ambassadors coming from Spain, England and the Ottoman Empire while considering the Saadian Morocco as a powerful force whose influence reached the borders of Niger and Mali ( large gold-producing region). Under the reign of the Saadian dynasty, Marrakesh found its role as point of contact between the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan African world, through the caravan routes

Saadiens tombs:

The Saadian tombs in Marrakech are to be originated in the period of the great sultan Ahmad al-Mansur Saadi (1578-1603). These tombs were discovered in 1917, then restored by the Fine Arts Department. These tombs impress visitors with their beautiful decoration. The mausoleum houses the body of a sixty Saadiens, including Al-Mansour, his followers and his family. The building consists of three rooms. The mausoleum is the most prestigious room of twelve columns. This room houses the tomb of Sultan Ahmed El Mansour son. Its dome carved cedar wood, and stucco are finely crafted, the graves are made from Carrara marble from Italy. This mausoleum is a beautiful example of Moorish decorative art. Outside, there are the graves of soldiers and servants, and a garden of the necropolis.

Marrakesh Souks:

A real labyrinth where the crowd snatches you, then brings you into the game of rays of light.

In a maze of shady streets, we cross the copper souk where dinandiers hammer the metal ancestral way. In the souk of the dyers they dry large skeins of wool with rich colors, stretched from one wall to another on poles. At the souk aux tapis, we sell at auction to the highest bidder.

And the potters souk presents tajine dishes, glazed pottery and beautiful ceramics. We also cross the souk of jewelers, leatherworkers and cabinetmakers. In the end the spice souk, there, the scents of saffron, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange blossoms daze the senses

Further on the shelves of apothecaries line up amber, musk, henna pots, jasmine or rose extract vials.

You will have the afternoon free to do whatever you please, whether it be shopping at the fabulous luxury shops or simply relaxing by the poolside at your hotel. Lunch on your own

Duration: 4 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in hotel or Riad

Day 7: Marrakesh - Casablanca - Rabat

Stop At: Rabat Old Town, Rabat Center, Rabat 10030 Morocco
After breakfast depart for Casablanca, arrival and panoramic tour and visit of Hassan II Mosque (11€ payable in spot) than route for Rabat,

installation in your hotel. Time at your disposal.
Duration: 5 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight in hotel

Day 8: Airport Transfer

Stop At: Medina of Rabat, Rabat 10030 Morocco
After breakfast, and according to flight hours, airport Transfer
Duration: 45 minutes

Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.