Rabat--The Royal Palace

The only international airport in Morocco is in Casablanca, but then, you knew that already, didn't you?

"If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

If it ever really looked like that, it doesn't any more.

Mohammed V airport in Casablanca

But it was only the place we landed. Five of us arrived at the same time on the same flight from Paris. We were picked up and whisked off to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, where we met the rest of the party at our modern hotel. We got assigned rooms, and I was introduced to everyone, then it was dinner and bed basically. Touring began in the morning.

We started at the Royal Palace. Yes, Morocco is a monarchy, but it is also a constitutional, parliamentary monarchy, dating back to 1956 and the end of the French protectorate. Yes, the French governed Morocco from 1912-1956, leaving some stamps on the country. Most visibly, their language. French is the second official language of Morocco after Arabic, and since the protectorate was also a time that they built schools and educated the population, French remains prevalent.

But we were talking about the Royal Palace.

In the heart of Rabat (but behind walls) is the Palais Royale, part of a complex of buildings and gardens that doesn't look at all like what you might imagine a Moroccan royal palace and grounds would look like. Above is a view of the palace itself, which looks not unlike a late 1980s shopping mall looks in America. Slap "JC Penny's" and "Macy's" logos on the outside, and no one would be surprised if I said this was actually a photo of Southdale. (A shopping mall in Minnesota, for you Californians.)

But the main entryway is pure Moroccan beauty. (You just have to get close enough to see it!)

That gorgeous carving deserves a closer look, don't you think?

Notice the five pointed star in the carving above--representing the 5 tenets of Islam, and also the star of the national flag.

There are of course guards at the gates of the palace, but they aren't purely decorative like at Buckingham Palace. They are wearing the uniforms of the different military and police departments, and this is one of the few places it is acceptable to photograph them.

The palace is part of what I can only call a campus, that includes a mosque, a former observatory, and the former office that housed the Moroccan equivalent of the FBI. There are also homes for the palace servants, and I believe a school. None of them was particularly picturesque--or amenable to my limited photographic skills. So here's some shots of the minaret of the mosque.

This stop was only about 20 minutes--public is not allowed inside any of the buildings, so we saw the outside and then went on to our next location.