We had visited Casablanca eight years ago on our honeymoon – so wanted to get out of the city. Casablanca was a 15 hour port call, to allow time from tours to Marrakech and Fez. The Marrakech tour involved 8 hours on a bus, ruling it out for us. We booked Holland America’s “The Imperial City of Rabat”, a 5.5 hour tour with 1 hour of driving each way. The tour left at 7 am ship’s time, and it was 6 am Casablanca time, so the city was very quite. Security was highly visible at the port and throughout the city. On the drive to Rabat, Morocco’s capital, we gained a first-hand glimpse of the dire poverty some in the country face. Housing were shanty structures appearing to be made of scraps of tin and wood – like squatter’s camps. Interestingly, almost all to had satellite dishes for TV. In Rabat, we walked the Oudalia Kasbah in the old town. At the first stop, a young women approached our group and started drawing henna tattoos on women’s arms and hands. Then she would demand 5 euros. “No, Merci!” seemed to keep her and other hawkers at bay. Next we visited the outer courtyard of the Royal Palace. No one gets into the inter courtyard except the Palace workers and guards. We were surprised to learn that there were more than 2000 members of the extended Royal family living in the Royal Palaces. The workers and guards live outside the palace, but still inside the huge walled compound. Another stop was ruins outside of Rabat where the Roman town of Sala stood. This area was a stork nesting area, and was swarming with storks and their young, just about old enough to be pushed out of the nest. The last stop was the Mausoleum of King Muhammad the 5th, who died in the late 1990s. His son — now in his mid-thirties, is now the king. On the drive back to Casablanca, many of us slept since the departure was early. In Casablanca, the guide made a shopping stop. We were amazed that it was the exact same store that our tour guide took us two eight years ago. Across the street is the Hyatt Hotel which has “Rick’s Café”, based on the café in the movie Casablanca. (as you probably know, none of the movie was actually filmed in Casablanca. ) One positive change – we were told 8 years ago that women were not allowed outside at the coffee houses. This visit, we both had espressos outside on the street café. However, it appeared that the only women at the cafes were tourists. Back at the ship, it was a great afternoon for catching up on sleep!