Reading Time: 10 minutes

This journal entry brings our time in Morocco to a close and our last week continued the great experience we have had here.  We have a lot of the world to see but we both would absolutely spend more time in this country if the opportunity comes up.  Rewinding to recap the week, we go back to Saturday – our first full day in Rabat.

Lots of sightseeing today.  We started with the Hassan Tower and Mohammed V Mausoleum.  These are in a large square that was originally going to be among the largest mosques in the world.  Only three minutes to walk from our apartment, the tower was going to be the largest minaret in the world, but construction was never finished and then an earthquake in the 1700s destroyed part of the tower and what was left of the unfinished mosque.  The tower has the speakers to announce the five-times-daily calls to prayer and they are loud.  They are not a bother – they are just loud from this tower.  On the other side of the square is the mausoleum where the current king’s grandfather, father, and uncle are buried.

We then walked to the Museum of History and Civilizations.  This is a fairly small museum, but it was good timing to see toward the end of our time in Morocco.  Many artifacts came from Lixus and Volubilis, which were earlier places on our trip and the museum is curated in a way to take you through the history of the peoples who have lived in Morocco.

Lunch was at Bacara Café.  It’s a healthy food café where I had goat cheese and honey toast and Sandy had an avocado salad.  The food was awesome (like almost all of the food has been) and we said we could probably eat here every day.

From lunch, it was off to the Museum Mohammed VI of Modern and Contemporary Art.  The current king made a strong push ten years ago to elevate the museums in Rabat and established a foundation to manage fourteen different ones.  This is one of them (along with the history and civilization one).  The museum has a combination of permanent and temporary exhibitions.  Some of the highlights included the permanent exhibit of some of Arman’s works (couldn’t help but think of our friend John from Denmark with one of his pieces of a garbage can from New York).  Sandy’s favorite was “Sports Channel” as it reminded her of her brothers and growing up in Wisconsin.  The exhibit also has a few pieces by Julian Schnable who uses a technique of painting on broken plates – I particularly liked the one of Van Gogh.  The other Arman one pictured below is “performance art” where he burned several everyday items – the items are on display and the video of him creating the piece is shown on the wall.  Pretty cool museum.

We were pretty close to the Royal Palace so we walked around the perimeter to finally find the door where we could enter the grounds.  Of course they are meticulously manicured and we couldn’t get right up the palace door, but we enjoyed the walk and exploring the area.

On Sunday, we went for a four mile workout walk from our apartment.  The walk took us over to the Mohammed VI Tower.  This tower has been under construction since before COVID and is scheduled for completion this year.  It will be the second tallest tower in Africa and its design is inspired by a rocket ship on its launch pad.  The man who is building the tower visited Cape Canaveral in 1969 before the moon landing launch and he wanted to have this building reminiscent of what he saw on the Cape.  Maybe some day we will return and get to the observation deck at the top when it is finished.

After our walk, Sandy found a café just a few minutes from the apartment for us to get brunch Al Atlal Cafe.  We had a version of an English breakfast with eggs, meats, cheese, crepes, and mint tea.  Perfect and then relaxed for a bit in the afternoon.

Casablanca is about a one-hour train ride from Rabat and we had a few things we wanted to see there.  We decided to go down there for dinner on Sunday night.  Rick’s Café is based on the fictional Rick’s American Café from the movie, Casablanca.  We really enjoyed our salmon and steak dinners.  The service was outstanding, the food was great, and the interior is very reminiscent of the film.  The only downside for us was that the piano player wasn’t playing that night.  They did have 40s music playing in the background, so it was still a wonderful experience.  After watching the movie, I couldn’t help but think the movie had to have been filmed partly in Casablanca.  Well, it wasn’t, and I didn’t even consider that the movie was made in 1941 (released in 1942) and the German alliance with Vichy France would have made it rather difficult to film the movie there at that time.  After dinner, it was back to the train station and the ride back to Rabat.

Monday’s first activity was a four-mile run in the Hilton Forest.  It was a few miles from the apartment so we grabbed a taxi there and back.  This is a tree-filled park that has 1.75 mile walking/running trail around the perimeter and lots of trails inside.

In the afternoon, we explored the Medina a little.  I had an oyster from one of the vendors.  The oysters here come from the southern part of Morocco on the Atlantic.  Sandy found the square in the Medina where we were able to have a mixed fried seafood lunch.  You had to be very careful of the bones in the fish, but the taste was good.

After the Medina, we walked over to the Kasbah (the old fortress) for views out over the ocean.  Also inside the Kasbah, there is a small Andalucian garden area – really pretty and a nice spot to sit for a few minutes.  On our list was to try one of the boat taxis that crosses the Bouregreg river between Rabat and Sale. For 25 cents each, you hop on a little boat and cross the river in just a few minutes.  The marina area in Sale has a lot of nice restaurants so we ate dinner overlooking the docks at MarinaSla.

Tuesday was birthday day for me so, like Sandy in Imlil, I got to make all the decisions today.  I had seen somewhere in the last few days that there was a tennis tournament taking place.  It’s part of the ITF World Tour and is geared toward players coming out of the juniors or out of college and wanting to make the jump up to the ATP level.  There is a small amount of money to be won and there are ranking points to be earned.  It was a really fun day spent at Club Wifaq watching the tennis, getting to talk with some of the players, and cheering on a great comeback victory by a doubles team from Canada and Poland.  The biggest highlight at the club though was finding a pickleball court.  I am told that it is the only court in Morocco – which could be possible.  I’ve not been able to find anything else.  I found someone to play so I was able to get my first game in along this journey.

After tennis, we took the bus and then the light rail back up to Sale and had dinner at the Marina Steakhouse.  This place was very similar to what you would find in the US as far as steakhouses go.  The meat was excellent and we enjoyed my birthday meal here.  As we were leaving, we met Jesse the owner.  As it turns out, he lived in the US for many years and had similar restaurant concepts there (including Tampa), so it’s no surprise that it had a very familiar feel for us.  I was very happy with my pick for my birthday dinner.  Afterward, we found a piece of chocolate cake to share and then each had a chocolate milkshake.  That made the birthday compete.

Wednesday doesn’t have too much to report.  We did get our workout in at a local gym – $5 each for this one.  And it came with a trainer.  I think maybe because we were the only two there.  The owner coached each of us through different machines to make sure we were getting the most benefit from each machine.  Good stuff!  The rest of the day was laundry time and I walked next door to our apartment and got a $5 haircut.  We had a super sushi dinner at Mysushi – about a 20-minute walk from the apartment.

Thursday, we headed back down to Casablanca to see the rest of the sights we wanted to see there.  First stop was the Hassan II Mosque, which is built on a man-made extension into the ocean.  The minaret (tower) is the second largest in the world.  The mosque is the 14^th largest and it is stunning.  No expense was spared in the detail and craftmanship that went into building the structure.  It was built under the current king’s father, taking six years.  For the size and beauty, it is impressive that it was accomplished in such a short time.  This is one of only two mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims can tour and we enjoyed our guide for our 45-minute tour.  The roof opens and closes in as short as three minutes.  The inside of the mosque can hold 25,000 worshippers and the outside courtyard can hold another 60,000. Under the main floor is the ablution floor.  This is filled with fountains (separate for men and women) where the worshippers wash their hands, wrists, feet, and face before going to pray.

We grabbed lunch after the mosque tour and then walked to downtown Casablanca to complete a walk that is outlined in the Lonely Planet guide.  The walk is a couple of miles long and takes in around 15 buildings that demonstrate the architecture of the downtown area.  Most of the buildings come from the last 100 years and the self-guided walk is a nice way to explore the area. 

With Casablanca being more of a financial center for the country and not a lot in the way of sights to see, you won’t have the typical kinds of things to look for.  For that reason, making our base for this week in Rabat worked out very well.

After making our way through the Medina, which is smaller and less “intense” than most of the others, we made our way back to Rabat and grabbed dinner at another restaurant just a few minutes from our apartment – Aya Rosa.  Sandy had an omelet and Moroccan tuna salad and I had my last tajine of this time in Morocco.  It was a chicken tajine and although I feel like I had too many tajines during the first half of our time here and didn’t feel like ordering anymore, once again, it was fantastic.  I am looking forward to having tajines again when we come across them in our journey – when we have had so much of whatever the local fare is and we’re just looking for something different.

Our last day in Morocco started with Starbucks in the Agdal neighborhood.  Walking from the light rail stop to Starbucks, it was evident that this is a more upscale part of Rabat.  We went back to the first restaurant we ate dinner at in Rabat, Le Dhow, to enjoy Friday night beers and burgers while floating on the river.  After dinner we packed because tomorrow is moving day. 

Rabat moved into the top spot as far as the cities we liked in Morocco.  Again, we have reasons to go back to everywhere we’ve been and enjoyed them all, but Rabat had a very modern feel to it, was quite clean, offered a lot of culture, some beautifully designed buildings and lots of big, beautiful trees.  If someone made us choose a place to live in Morocco right now, we’d both probably say Rabat.

That’s a wrap for our experiences here.  Next entries will have general observations, but for now – thank you, Morocco.  You’re amazing!