"Here's Looking At You Kid"

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Saturday April 30th, 2011

Casablanca, Morocco

Latitude 33 degrees 36 minutes’ north- Longitude 07 degrees 36 minutes’ west

We took a bus tour along the coast of Morocco today from Casablanca north to the capital of Rabat and back. There were several seaside villages and towns along the way and what struck me the most were the walls. Whether it was small towns, new modern condo complexes, old villages and even family compounds of a few houses; they were all surrounded by walls. They love walls in Morocco. Even the slums had their own enclosed stone wall. We visited the Royal Palace and they had special guards outside the gate and if you look in the picture you can see that there are walls inside of walls in the palace. We saw a huge old cemetery where all the headstones face toward Mecca; and of course it was surrounded by a wall. The city of Rabat sits on a river and you can see the Medina or old part of town on the bluff surrounded by the ancient fortifications. Then, when you look across the river you see another town, also surrounded by walls. It was quite scenic as we drove along the coast road, back to Casablanca. It was green and lush with many agricultural fields. As we continued along, there would be an affluent area with newer modern houses and then all of a sudden a slum next to high-rise apartment units. Casablanca is now a very big, commercial city and tourism is only secondary to the economy. Even so our guide made a point to tell us that he appreciated our visit and was very sorry for the attack on tourists in Marrakesh. As we made our way back to the ship I saw another house surrounded by a wall, but that one had a beautiful covering of purple flowers.

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