Long Weekend

We just had a long weekend because of the Eid celebrating the birth of the Muslim prophet, Mohammad. So off we went to the beach to see if we could dry out and see the sun! Rabat (capital) The mousoleum where the current king's father and grandfather are buried - beautiful artwork inside and out. The king lives in Rabat and went several places while we were there meaning that wherever he went, monuments or roads were closed. This was closed because he was passing by. As much as he is loved, I can't imagine the logistics of living in a city with the king!
The Hassan Tower (minaret) - built about 800 years ago by the sultan. He intended for the minaret to be almost 2x as high, but died before its completion. Then in 1755, the great Lisbon earthquake shook down the mosque that went with it, leaving only these pillars.

I have never seen a beach with so many shells!

Inside an old fortress on the edge of the ocean in Rabat

The view from our roof-top beach-front apartment ($50 for two nights) - yeah, we're really suffering :) This is two houses down from one of the queen's beach houses. Well, techincally she's only a princess, but when I talking to the Moroccan caretaker at our place, he said, "I don't care what her title is. She's our queen!"

The second-largest lagoon in Africa which is a bird-watching area. We went out in boats to see all the flamingoes they had promised would be there, but it turned out they were just telling us what we wanted to hear. The flamingoes have all flown away due to the flooding. We saw miles and miles of houses in the middle of new 'lakes.' Everyone is affected.

Here are some fishermen bringing in a catch.

The Chellah -containing Roman runins from 2000 years ago and Arab ruins from 'only' 800 years ago. Lush and beautiful inside, complete with thousands of stork nests!