Sale Medina

Sale is older than Rabat as a settled town and for a long period more important, and in the seventeenth century it and the kasbah opposite formed the base of the Salé corsairs - a fleet that raided Atlantic shipping and coasts as far as Iceland and Ireland and for a while operated as an effectively independent republic, financed by cargo and by ransoming captives. Nothing about the medina now advertises that. It is a working walled town of about ninety hectares with a fourteenth-century Marinid madrasa beside its great mosque, a wool and mat souk, a Jewish quarter, the shrine of Sidi Abdallah ben Hassoun who is the patron of Sale's boatmen, and lanes with very few visitors in them. The tram from Rabat crosses the river in a few minutes, and small rowing boats still ferry people across for a few dirhams.

History

Salé was probably founded in the 11th century by families from al-Andalus, above all the Banu 'Ashara, learned jurists and judges who became its rulers, and in 1121 they hosted Ibn Tumart on his way to Marrakesh. The Almohad caliphs later lived here and improved the city, and the present Great Mosque was built on the order of Yaqub al-Mansur in 1196 (Wikipedia, Salé).

What's there

• A corsair base - the seventeenth-century republic that raided as far as Iceland.
• The Marinid madrasa - a fourteenth-century college beside the great mosque.
• A working walled town - ninety hectares of ordinary life with few visitors.
• The rowing-boat ferry - small craft still crossing the river for a few dirhams.

When to go

October to April. Half a day, crossing from Rabat.

Things to know

There is little visitor infrastructure - few cafes aimed at outsiders and almost no English. Sale is more conservative than Rabat; dress accordingly. Most mosques and shrines are closed to non-Muslims. It is quiet to the point of unremarkable in stretches.

Nearby

Rabat is across the river; the Marinid madrasa is at the medina's heart.

Key facts