Morocco is a country of 30M people. 20% are Berber, 80% Arabic. Over 65% are involved in agriculture. Morocco is a democratic monarchy and friendly with the US. Our guide said that the recession hasn't hit Morocco because " we've been in recession since the beginning of time".

Although Casablanca is the commercial center of Morocco, Rabat is the capital. We opted for a tour of Rabat. It is a 90 minute drive from Casablanca along the Atlantic Ocean. There were several small towns along the way. All the apartments and even the cardboard shanty towns had satellite dishes on their balconies or roofs. Our first stop was at the Royal Palace of the current King, Mohammed VI. This is the largest of his 15 palaces and is on beautiful, well manicured grounds.

The next stop was to the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and his 2 sons. Also on the grounds is the minaret of the unfinished mosque from the 12th century.

Our final stop before lunch was to the Kasbah. The word Kasbah means "stronghold". It is a walled complex over 800 years old with houses, small local shops, and restaurant. It was very picturesque with its winding streets of cobblestone. Lunch was included in the tour at a very nice Moroccan restaurant. The food was delicious and included a nice appetizer platter of cold vegetables (eggplant, cauliflower, beets, cucumber), bread, then hot meat pie in filo dough. The main course was roasted chicken. Dessert was fresh fruit, anise cookies and mint tea. They also provided a bottle of wine and bottled water for each person.

After lunch we napped as the bus brought us back to Casablanca. We stopped at a government arts and crafts store before returning to the ship in time for tea!

To view more photos from Casablanca, please go to Morocco Photo Gallery. To read about the next location visited, go to Canary Islands.

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