Touring Ancient History

So after a day of resting yesterday, we ventured out today and went to the Supermarjane first (the grocery store). Sorry, we took no pictures. But this store had everything - food, clothes and even some furniture items. It was actually within a little mall that had other stores, pharmacy, etc. Then we went to Chella. Here is a little bit of historical information about Chella.

Chellah is considered to be the oldest known human settlement along the banks of the Oued Bou Regreg (Bou Regreg River). The site is perched dramatically above the fertile river plain of the estuarine portion of Oued Bou Regreg, two kilometres from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean. The site is thought to have been originally a colony of Phoenician and Carthaginian exploration as early as the third century BC, but the earliest recognisable architecture dates from Roman occupation circa 40 AD. In any case, the site is one of the earliest clearly identifiable settlements of man in Morocco; the site is now at the edge of the city of Rabat, the present day capital of the Kingdom of Morocco

Jenny dropped us off and we ventured in. We had a guide who walked us through with some explanation, then we wandered back through at our own pace shooting more pictures. We probably have about 200 between us. I will skip the detailed pictures of mosaic, old wood, and plants. But, if you are interested, just ask and I will be happy to share with you personally!!

                                                       The front entrance. Philip with our guide.

Just inside.

                                                   The outer wall.

The view across the river.

A closeup of that same view across the river. This shows two of the mauselums that were on that hill side.

Lots of buriel sites to see and we were often told who was buried there and many of course, were important people. I cannot remember any names told to us, unfortunately.

The three arches are on the wall just above these three tombs. The one on the left was a king, the one in the middle was a sultan and the one with mosaic on the right was the wife of the sultan who converted from Christianity to Islam when she wed.

At the start of the trip, we were pretty fresh.

At the end, pretty hot and sweaty!!

By the way, Dave Piper, you can now show that your sandals have been in Morocco!

This pool houses some small eels. Our grandson wanted to make sure we saw them. We tried, but to no avail. There was even an elderly man there who threw pieces of hard boiled egg into the water so the eels would come eat. This pool of water was where the young women of the times would come here to bathe in the waters in the belief that it would help with fertility problems.

One last beautiful doorway on the way out. A beautiful green color.

We made it home via la petite taxi again. Our driver tried to teach us Arabic on the way. Our daughter's housekeeper had cooked a great dish of vermecelli, chicken, carrots, cabbage and a million other things.  It was delicious. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it. That's it for now. More to come.