The Kasbah at the River Mouth

The Udaya were a tribe the sultan stationed at the mouth of the Bou Regreg river to guard the entrance to Rabat. They gave the kasbah their name and a reputation for ferocity.

The Kasbah of the Udayas sits on the bluff where the river meets the Atlantic, a fortified quarter built by the Almohads in the 12th century and expanded by every dynasty that followed. The monumental gate — Bab Oudaia — is considered one of the finest examples of Almohad architecture in Morocco, carved in red sandstone with interlocking arches and calligraphic bands.

Inside the walls, the kasbah is a village. Narrow streets painted in blue and white — a colour scheme applied during the colonial period, possibly influenced by Andalusian traditions — run between small houses. Bougainvillea spills over the walls. Cats sleep on doorsteps. The Andalusian Garden, laid out by the French during the Protectorate in a classical Islamic pattern, occupies the southern end of the kasbah.

The view from the platform at the kasbah's tip is across the river to Salé, the twin city that has faced Rabat across the water since the Middle Ages. Salé was the base of the Republic of Salé — the 17th-century pirate state that raided Atlantic shipping and operated with effective independence from the sultan. The pirates are gone. The fishermen are still there, launching from the beach below the kasbah walls.

The Udaya tribe themselves were eventually disbanded — they had become too powerful and too unruly. But the kasbah they guarded still stands, and the gate the Almohads built still opens onto the river.