Another morning in Rabat and I started out at Cafe Assalama on the recommendation of some of our predecessors. It was ok but I do give them high marks for their speedy service, which is almost non-existent in this town. Then it was off to 7AY to work for the rest of the day. Motivation was sorely lacking, though, so I didn’t get much done. In the evening, looking for an escape from some of the Rabat craziness some of us went to dinner in the Sofitel at the Golden Fish. It was good but the real attraction was the garden and grounds that the hotel sit on which were gorgeous.

Had more success getting out for breakfast this morning and went to Paul which is apparently a french cafe chain. It was a nice setting but the food was average, the service was harried and the WiFi may as well not have existed. It’s a nice space, though. On the way there I drove by a bakery called Amoud so afterwards I walked down there to scope that out. It’s not a place to hang out as there’s no place to sit but it’s massive, gorgeous and the lemon tart I had did not disappoint. After that it was off to 7AY to work for the rest of the day. In the evening a group of us went to Ya Mal Cham for dinner. This place is always packed and I’ve been meaning to try it. Service was typically non-existent but the food was excellent and the price was ridiculously low, like… five dollars for dinner. I can see why it’s always packed.

We had a series of meetings at 7AY this morning that I nearly forgot about so when I woke I headed right there for business development, town hall etc. Just worked there for the rest of the day… although motivation was sorely lacking. I was oddly tired, don’t think I slept well the night before. In the evening we had our welcome party where we had rented out a bowling alley in a (*the) Rabat mall. It was kind of funny to go to a Moroccan mall if only because it was exactly what you’d get in America. Unfortunately, right as I sat down to eat my food court pizza I had some work related things come up that I had to tend to so I had to bail and head back to work on those. Ended up being the right call as more stuff came up on my way back as well. So, I ended up just working for the rest of the evening.

A miscommunication with my driver in the morning meant that I didn’t get to experience anywhere new for breakfast and instead ended up at 7AY early. However, sitting up on their great roof early in the morning and having coffee before most folks are around is not a bad way to start the day either. I spent all day at the work space and had some of the great catered lunch that they do every day. In the evening some of us went to Restaurant Dinarjat in the Medina which is so hard to find that they literally send a guy out with a lantern to locate you and lead you back to the restaurant. They strive to be a very traditional Moroccan place and as such it seems to attract a tourist oriented crowd but the food was good, the price was right and it was an overall very fun experience.

Every morning when I wake up I have to spend about a minute recalling where exactly I am that day. I wouldn’t have expected it, but waking up in Africa is a little more jarring than any place up until now. I started the day with my usual search for coffee and breakfast which took me to La Pause Gourmande, a French cafe that was recommended by our city managers. It was nice enough, I had a couple of coffees and a plate of pastries for something like five American dollars.

After that it was off to our work space here, 7AY, to work and see our city orientation. This is yet another extremely cool work space. I mean there’s a Berber tent on the roof that you can work from. How cool is that!? I highly recommend clicking the link to see some of the photos.

I basically worked all day and in the evening went for dinner at this place Le Georges that I had driven by in the morning and thought looked nice. It was a great place. The manager spoke English (hurray!) and was very overly apologetic that they had no alcohol (despite my not even asking) because it was New Years. On normal evenings it looked like it could be a happening place and he told me they have live music on Fridays and Saturdays so I’ll have to return and check that out. I had the duck for dinner which was very well done, as was everything there.

So, Africa. Now this is starting to feel like traveling. Europe was fun but it was easy, at least half of everyone I know had been to any one of the cities that I was staying in Europe (ok, maybe not Belgrade). My first day routine of just aimlessly wandering around the city to get my bearings certainly seemed more daunting in Rabat than anywhere else. Of course, that’s really just all in your head… if you keep your head about you.

I started off trying to satisfy my caffeine addiction so I made my way to a cafe that I found… somewhere, probably TripAdvisor or FourSquare. Well it turns out this place was just the little coffee shop in the train station which was disappointing but I was desperate so I stayed for a cappuccino at Cafe Segafredo regardless. In Europe I was able to get by with English just fine. Not so here, my extremely limited French has been taxed to it’s limit already. Suitably caffeinated I set out to try and find a better place for breakfast. This search led me to the nearby TyPotes which was a great second attempt. They had a just killer breakfast and fast WiFi so I’ll definitely be heading back there.

After having eaten I just wandered. I walked out to the Mausole Mohammad V and then up the river to the coast, through the Medina which was very cool and… I think, but I haven’t checked, that it’s election season here so there was some campaigning going on which always makes me feel at home!

I had basically lapped the entire city by the end of the day and I was totally exhausted so I just popped into this pizza place for dinner; Metros de Pizza. Funny enough it was the best pizza I’ve had on my travels so far… but that could just be because I was starving. It’s a neat concept, though. You can order by the meter and they just keep making the pizza longer and longer and longer. After that it was back home to bed early.