Casablanca and Rabat are like night and day. Where Casablanca is noisy and dirty and crowded, Rabat is quiet (although it is Sunday), the buildings are clean and cared for and the streets and sidewalks are empty (again, it is Sunday). Rabat is the capital of Morocco, so it has the ministries and government buildings along with the palace of the king.
The Mausoleum of Mohammed V was commissioned by Hassan II for his father’s tomb. Hassan II also commissioned the mosque in Casablanca. The mausoleum sits at one end of a square and on the other end is the Hassan Tower, a minaret of an unfinished mosque dating back to the 12 th century. The buildings are majestic and peaceful. There are ceremonial guards at the four doors to the mausoleum and also inside at the four corners. Oh, and there are guards on horses and the entrances to the square. The men could use lessons from the British about standing at attention and not looking so terribly bored.
We take a taxi to the Mausoleum and then walk back, stopping at the Modern Art Gallery, a fancy gate and getting refused entrance to Royal Palace Gardens because we don’t have a guide. It is hot and the humidity is about 90%, so we start to drag about 2/3 of the way back. Lunch and Coca Colas revive us enough to get back to the hotel. Speaking about humidity. I am sitting in bed as we have the AC cranked to dry everything out. The clothes are damp, the bed is damp and the towels are damp. Yuck!
