Morocco Day 1

So after a very air conditioned flight, we landed surprisingly at the Rabat Airport. We had been told that we would land in Casablanca and then need an hour bus ride to get to Rabat. It was nice to arrive right in Rabat, but driving through Casablanca would have been fun as well.


 We checked into our hotel - The Golden Tulip Farah - and packed our stuff away. We changed some dollars for dirham, and met for a briefing with an embassy employee.

The hotel left a plate of fruit and a complimentary water for us. The mini fridge was full of $4.00 sodas and $10.00 mini bottles of adult beverages.


Dirham reminded me of the Brazilian Real - fun colors, neat things to look at, and a cool water mark in the middle. There is also a fun collection of coins in the currency.

After our briefing we decided to go to dinner at the Dinerjat Restaraunt.  It was a few hours from dinner, so we walked over to the Hassan Minaret. It was just a few blocks from our Hotel. The Hassan Minaret was begun in 1195 and was intended to be the tallest minaret in the world. Construction stopped after the death of the Sultan and it only reached half of its intended 86 meters.  The attached mosque was also left unfinished and only has some of the sandstone walls and 200 columns remaining. The complex adjoins the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. We visited the Mausoleum a different day, so I'll cover that later.


Photos of the park and Hassan Tower.

A very nice water bottle.

Sneak peak at the mausoleum (with pigeon in flight)

So off to dinner we went. It was billed as an authentic Moroccan meal. We were met by a guide at the beginning of the Medina who led us to the restaurant. The restaurant was beautiful with an open ceiling. There was some concern with all the pigeons and sparrows flying overhead, but no culinary disasters occurred. The tables were decorated with bowls of olives and rose petals.

I'm not a big fan of olives, but they had these neat olive pit spittoons. Anytime I can use a spittoon, I'm in. The olives were surprisingly less olivey than the locals. The blacks were more intense than the greens, but both were enjoyable (if only a mechanism to use the spittoon.)

We enjoyed a heavy meat dinner with guys at my table ordering lamb, beef, and chicken. Everything was very good and served in authentic Tagines. Exhausted we went back to the hotel and enjoyed a jet-lag assisted snooze.