We have journeyed past what we thought was suppose to be the most luxurious pristine place of Casablanca City and have now stayed a few days in Capital City of Rabat to not only recognize but be told that Casablanca is just an expensive tourist location. Rabat is so much cheaper, cleaner, and inhabited. Not to mention the surrounding walls, gardens, cafés, Mosques and medinas make this a luscious city. However as it is the new Capital (previously being Fez) it is the new home of president . Rabat is set up almost how Ottawa is to Quebec, with the Wadi Bou dividing Rabat from the city of Salé. With that being said security is much heavier in the city, with local groups chanting and marching, groups of what looks to be like a swat team wait on street corners to take action if needed. Regular patrols of army squads with a captain and 2 soldiers with guns at ease patrol the streets and medinas. Many uniformed officials toured the city from full green, full blue, full red, full white, and camo uniforms which can be quite intimidating and make a strong presence but are respectful to the people and tourists. Our walking ventures tend to get us lost as usual until we start to make mental maps of the areas, we ventured outside the city walls to Bab el-Rouah (gate) and a park garden, visit to Hassan tower which is under construction but closed to non Muslim regardless, mausoleum of Mohammed V, Ville Nouvelle, Oudaïa kasbah, Andalusian garden, beaches, and the local medina. Beautiful city with much to do and see, easy to recognize why it became the new capital of Morocco. The beaches played loud club like music very similar to the setup of wasaga beach, however the beaches were still pretty quiet as they consider it cold still being a high of around 26•c, women in full long outfits, men in full outfits or shirtless and children fully dressed roam the area. Long piers groups take walks down, we saw a band of young boys singing and playing music as the sunsets, and my new buddy Hassan we met but in the end tried to sell us Kleenex packages for 2Dirham which is about 25cents. The medina in this city was much larger with multiple streets and ally's to travel, however a lot of the shops had prices marked and were not as interested in bartering with deals. Souks also carrying items for sale which were quite disgusting, from live turtles to eat, scaled whole fish sitting in the sun, or a lovely older guy that had pig hooves and steamed camel skulls is what it appeared to be. We even ventured down Rue Souïka which according to our survival guide says it is closed to non Muslims but we had a venture down. I managed to find a few items I wanted and some underwear! However I am apparently a XXXL here, thank you to all my fake friends who never told me I was fat! We were shopping mid day when a segment of prayer had begun also, majority of stores close and lock up, groups of men gather around large couscous tajines and others head to prayer with a mat in the nearest mosque or designated area, quite and experience to witness. Also amount of stray cats/kittens that roam the streets/ally's/medinas/gardens is overwhelming and a sad sight to witness how hundreds of cats starve and roam the streets, to foul to even touch. On the other end of the medina is the kasbah and beaches where these robed women ran up to Rosemary with a syringe of brownish green paste and started drawing flowers on her arms, she than called another lady over to put a scorpion on my hand. At the beginning it was a rather alarming experience but it was just Henna art which they use to keep evil spirits away. The city's flow is non stop and fast paced, this city actually has some street lights as Casablanca barely did, however there is a large tram way here that maintain priority, after that it is a free for all for cars and pedestrians alike. It can be a very dangerous city in means of getting bit if you are not quick and cautious! We even managed to see a man who appeared to be hit by a car the first day in the city, he was bloody and barely moving laying on the pavement as hundreds of pedestrians just stand idly by as the authorities are hopefully called. Hopefully he ended up alright! The evening we strolled down the beach way, the water of the Atlantic was beautiful and warm as it was just a coved area. And a stroll down a long pier to watch the sunset. Absolutely stunning, watching the sun melt into the vast horizon in a bed of clouds that appeared as the day ended, and the moon rises up behind the mosque and the city lights turn on! We stroll back through the closing medina grabbing some raspberry and pistachio Icecream from a vendor and back to our hotel for a night cap on the bar, a dark modern lounge with old jazz and classic sultry tunes set the mood. However a sip of wine as were are basically sleeping from a long day of culture sun and exploration. As we complete our visit in Rabat we now head to the city of Tangier, we are staying in a cheap hostel for 3 nights in this location and are now riding the train for 4 hours. With our new buddy Mohammad a young maybe 10year old riding the train alone to Kenitra interested in us but only knows Arabic and French and we know English and basic Frenglish. But his curiously keeps trying as our whole trip has been, the people study us just as we are studying them, but there comical and humble nature eliminates all potential thoughts of danger or threats. Normally they just laugh at us to be honest lol. Rosemary has also been a treat to say the least lol, learning new sides of her everyday which is so funny, from white Beyoncé who sings not remembering the words or tunes, to Spanish Rosé that pops out Spanish or Italians words confusing with French, the dyslexic Rosie that assures "Dino the Doug" is having a good adventure, to the zoned out Cruella deville in the bar wearing black and white in a red high chair at a loss for words as she stares into the distance. Much love Rosie! Haha it's interesting to witness your many sides, especially when your exhausted! But we work as the perfect travel pair with no set schedule agenda or at time idea where we are, we just have fun and stay open minded, at least trying to maintain a sense of direction! Until next time! Salam -Mike
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