Neighbourhood Rabat, Morocco
Cats in The Kasbah of the Udayas
A blue and white walled village on the cliff where the river meets the Atlantic, in the capital nobody visits. Cats on the whitewashed walls, a man who feeds them at his door every morning, and a garden of orange trees where they sleep.
Where to find cats in The Kasbah of the Udayas: The Kasbah of the Udayas, the walled quarter on the cliff at the mouth of the Bou Regreg river in Rabat, Morocco, and the medina beside it. When: Morning, when the feeders come, or late afternoon for the light on the walls. Any month; Rabat is mild. Why here: The prettiest small quarter in Morocco, in the capital, with cats fed by people who have done it for generations.
The short version
- Where
- The Kasbah of the Udayas, the walled quarter on the cliff at the mouth of the Bou Regreg river in Rabat, Morocco, and the medina beside it
- When
- Morning, when the feeders come, or late afternoon for the light on the walls. Any month; Rabat is mild
- How long
- Two hours for the kasbah and the garden. Half a day with the medina and the river
- What it costs
- Free. The café in the garden charges for mint tea, and the tea is the reason to sit
- Why here
- The prettiest small quarter in Morocco, in the capital, with cats fed by people who have done it for generations
What to bring
- The morningThe man in the photograph feeds at his door in the morning. So do his neighbours. By noon the cats are in the garden.
- Dirhams for teaThe Café Maure on the terrace above the river has been serving mint tea and almond biscuits for a century. Cats on the cushions.
- Nothing for the catsThe kasbah feeds its own. A stranger’s bag at the wrong door confuses a very old arrangement.
- Shoes for stepsThe kasbah is on a cliff and the lanes are stairs. The medina below is flat and long.
Why there are cats everywhere
Rabat is the capital nobody visits, and the kasbah is the reason to.
The Kasbah of the Udayas is a twelfth-century fortress on the cliff where the Bou Regreg meets the Atlantic, and inside its walls is a village of whitewashed houses with their lower halves painted blue, lanes that are stairs, a great gate, a platform over the river mouth, and a garden of orange trees laid out by the French. Rabat is Morocco’s capital and its quietest big city, and the kasbah is its one perfect corner.
The cats are fed in the Moroccan way, by the households, at the door. The photograph at the top of this page is a man in a djellaba at his green doorway with a dozen cats at his feet, and he is not unusual; his neighbours do the same. The cats sleep on the white walls in the sun, in the Andalusian Gardens under the orange trees, on the cushions of the Café Maure, and along the river wall below the kasbah, where the fishermen sit and the cats walk the line looking for what is not biting.
Below the kasbah, the medina of Rabat is small, calm and unhassled by Marrakech standards, and the Rue des Consuls, the old carpet street, has cats on the carpets. It is the gentlest introduction to Morocco on this site, and the one where the feeding is oldest.
The walk
In at the great gate, up through the lanes to the platform over the river, down to the garden and the café, then along the river wall and into the medina. Two to three hours.
- From Rabat-Salé airportTaxi to the kasbah25 minSmall airport, short queue. Ask for the Oudayas.
- From CasablancaTrain to Rabat Ville, then walk75 minThe high-speed and the ordinary trains both stop at Rabat Ville. The medina is ten minutes away.
- From Rabat Ville stationWalk down Avenue Mohammed V and through the medina20 minOr the tram to Bab Lamrissa in Salé and walk back over the bridge for the view.
The kasbah lanes
Through the twelfth-century gate and up the main lane, Rue Jamaa, past the old mosque to the platform at the top with the river mouth and the Atlantic below. Cats on the white walls and the blue steps all the way.
A kasbah lane. White above, blue below, cat in the middle.Adam Jones, Ph.D. - Global Photo Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0 The Andalusian Gardens
Down the far side into the walled garden of orange trees, roses and fountains, with the Café Maure on the terrace above the river. Cats under the trees and on the café cushions. Mint tea and almond biscuits here.
Black on white, which the kasbah was painted for.Chrismartin76, CC BY-SA 2.0 The river wall
Out below the walls to the promenade along the Bou Regreg, where the fishermen sit with the boats and Salé across the water. Cats walk the line, checking the buckets.
The river wall. Nothing left to catch, says the cat, and moves on.(Imagine) 2.0, CC BY 2.0 The medina and Rue des Consuls
Into the medina beside the kasbah and along the carpet street, where the merchants have sold to the consuls since the corsair days. Cats on the carpets, tolerated because a cat on a carpet sells it.
Medina cats. Unhurried, like the city.(Imagine) 2.0, CC BY 2.0
Same numbers as the list. Worth keeping open on your phone.
The cats you will meet
Moroccan street cats, fed at the door: small, short-coated, tabby and black and white, calm in a quarter that has fed them for centuries and used to the few visitors Rabat gets. Sociable at the doorways and the café, quick on the river wall.
Doorway cats
At the green doors of the kasbah in the morning.
The households’. Watch, do not join.
Garden cats
Under the orange trees and on the café cushions.
The best-fed cats in Rabat. Share the cushion.
River cats
Along the wall with the fishermen.
Working the buckets. Leave the fishermen to it.
Everybody says Rabat has nothing for visitors.
Actually It has the kasbah, which is the most beautiful small quarter in Morocco, a calm medina, a river, and cats fed by people who have done it for generations. It has no hassle, which is why nobody talks about it.
How not to be the annoying one
- The kasbah is a residential village. Photograph the lanes, not through the doors.
- Do not feed. The households do, at their own doors, on their own schedule.
- Order tea at the café if you sit. The cushions and the cats come with it.
- The mosque in the kasbah is not open to non-Muslims. Admire the door.
- Rabat is calm. Be calm in it.
