We arrived in Casablanca at about 8 AM this morning. No sleep for this girl. Peggy sprawled across 2 seats all night. Kinda of like traveling with Rosemarie Ido who slept from Dubai to Orlando.

We are staying two nights in a beautiful gated resort called the Villa Mandarine. Definitely a Spanish influence and gorgeous gardens.

We had a free afternoon because the rest of the tour members don’t arrive until later tonight. My travel expert Peggy found this guy, named Abdul, to give us a walking tour of the Kasbah of Oudaya in Rabat. It is a world UNESCO site and is being completely renovated. Everything is painted this gorgeous shade of blue.

We stopped at a beautiful cafe overlooking the harbor for Mint Tea and some homemade treats.

We continued walking through alley ways of markets. So different from the souks of Dubai. There was no grabbing, trying to pull you into stores. Everyone was so polite. It was during this time that I received my first marriage proposal of the trip. A very handsome 30 something started screaming in Arabic that he wanted to marry me and he had no faults and he didn’t drink or smoke and was a good man. All translated by our guide, Abdul. I think it was my blonde hair!

We continued our walk to the Hassan Tower that was started in the 12th century but never finished. It was guarded by Moroccan soldiers with machine guns.

We finished our day at the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and his sons. A gorgeous building that unfortunately was not open to the public. It was guarded by unmoving guards on horseback.

And finally the food of the day.