ART & CRAFTGARDENMUSEUMTram The easiest way to travel between Rabat and Salé is by tram (Dh7).
Around Rabat & Salé
Complexe des Potiers
(Pottery Cooperative; sunrise-sunset) The village of Oulja, 3km southeast of Salé, is home
to the Complexe des Potiers, which produces a huge range of ceramics. The potters work at
the back of the complex, bringing in clay from a rich seam in the surrounding hills (you’ll see it
on the left as you drive in), throwing and turning it on kick wheels, then glazing and firing the
finished pieces in enormous kilns. A firing takes 15 hours and reaches 900°C. Fine domestic
pottery is fired in gas kilns designed to reduce environmental degradation and air pollution, but
more rustic pieces are still fired in kilns fuelled by twigs and leaves from nearby eucalyptus
forests.
The centre has a cafe and some workshops used by basket weavers and blacksmiths. To
get here, take a petit taxi from Salé (about Dh18) or catch bus 35 or 53 (Dh4) from Bab
Khebaz.
Jardins Exotiques
(www.jardinsexotiques, in French; adult/child Dh10/5; 9am-5pm winter, to 7pm summer)
Created by French horticulturist Marcel François in 1951, these gardens were declared a
Natural Heritage site in 2003 and reopened in 2005 after several years of restoration. They are
divided into the Jardin Nature , plantations that evoke the exotic vegetation the horticulturalist
encountered on his many travels; the Jardin Culture , referring more to the philosophy of the
garden in different cultures; and the Jardin Didactique , with birdcages, an aquarium and a
vuivarium. Colour-coded paths lead through overgrown Brazilian rainforest, Polynesian jungle,
Japanese pleasure grounds and an Andalusian garden. Jardins Exotiques is managed by the
Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
The gardens are tranquil on weekends, and are a great place to bring children. It’s also a
popular spot for courting couples.
The gardens are 13km north of Rabat on the road to Kenitra. Take bus 28 from Ave Moulay
Hassan in Rabat, or Bab Fès, the main gate at Salé medina.
Musée Belghazi
( 0537 82 21 78; www.museebelghazi.com, in French; main collection Dh50, private rooms
by reservation Dh100; 9am-7.30pm) The first museum in Morocco has a vast collection of
traditional Andalusian, Jewish Moroccan and Islamic arts and crafts amassed by the Belghazi
family.
Displays include measuring instruments, (one of the first Belghazis was an astrologist at the
Qarawiyin court in Fez), 17th-century carpets, exquisitely carved wooden minbars (pulpits from
a mosque), doors and ceilings dating from the 10th century, intricate gold and silver jewellery,
exceptional pottery and embroidery from Fez, and miniature copies of the Quran. There is a
boutique with souvenirs and a restaurant.
The museum is 17km from Salé on the road to Kenitra. Take bus 28 from Ave Moulay