The normal roads here away from the larger towns and cities are a nightmare. A real assault course to drive. The loose road surface and dust keeps becoming trapped in Marge's brakes, and she doesn't like it! Because of the road conditions our journey today was slow.
As we passed through small communities we were apalled at the amount of rubbish that lined the side of the road, the lack of grazing for the sheep, and the treatment of the horses and donkeys who pull the carts carrying bricks, cement, fruit, in fact just about anything. The seaside resort of Kintra was our planned overnight stop. It looked a nice town and the beach looked amazing. But the main campsite with four hundred pitches was empty. The reviews on the Internet weren't good, but we didn't expect this. So we drove on, a little disappointed at not being able to stay the night here. A secure overnight stop at a service area was our lunch stop. It was one of the nicest service areas we'd ever seen, with a beautiful outside space where peacocks roamed.
Now you don't see that in the U.K.! As it is our wedding anniversary today we felt we should be staying somewhere a little more exciting, so pushed onto Morocco's capital city Rabat. On the approach, stopping at the police checkpoint the officer saluted us, and Marge, and welcomed us to Morocco.
So tonight we are staying right near the Souk. As with all souks it was bustling.
We walked through it to the cities viewpoint, visited the beautiful gardens of the Kasbah Udayas, stopped for refreshments at the cafe opposite.
Walked some more in the Souk before stopping to eat mixed meat sandwiches and chips along with the locals, all for under a fiver!
For the faint hearted mixed meat here contains a lot of offal. We didn't mind, it was very nice, and we were impressed by the staff who washed their hands regularly. Tomorrow before leaving Rabat we will walk out a little more. We especially want to climb the Hassan Tower. Darkness now falling, our secure parking area is emptying of cars. There is a French van here with us. On site there is a security man and his dog, they will remain with us all night. In all the time we've been in Morocco we have felt safe, so far we've hardly been hassled and received more waves and thumbs up than we ever imagined. Oh, and quite a number of salutes from passing motorists for Marge. As always she is the star of the show.
