Morocco: Part 12: Asilah, Rabat and Casablanca Airport

Monday 6 March

Asilah

It's only a few hours drive to Asilah from Chefchaouen. Good roads, good coffee stops. And quite a lot of rain.

We were in a 3 bedroom apartment in the medina. It's cold here and very quiet being the winter season. It didn't take us long to stroll around the old town, which has a distinct Spanish feel to it.

Restaurant Le 32 was a great find. Modern, with a bar and no hassle serving wine and the food was great. They are known for seafood paella in this town, so Neil and Vivienne shared a delicious crayfish paella.

Le 32 had a slogan sign up - now we have 2 for the trip.

Tuesday 7 March

Rabat

Another rainy morning and a couple of hours drive to Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco and the 2nd largest city. It's a lot more modern than many of the other places we have been to in Morocco and not very touristy. We are staying in beautiful Riad Karim in the old medina.

As has become customary, we strolled through the medina and markets which here are mainly for the locals and not very touristy.

We went up to the Kasbah of Udayas, now largely an upmarket residential area with views out to sea and over the Bouregreg river mouth.

Moored in the river is Le Dhow, a floating restaurant with good wine and beer and then good cocktails; a relaxing place to while away a few hours.

We had a great dinner at Dar el Medina Restaurant.

And got to do some evening shopping.

Here no-one nags you to buy and there's no haggling; prices are fixed. Two pairs of slippers for 13 USD!

Wednesday 8th March 

A travel day. We did a bit more shopping. Stephen and Vivienne went to the Rabat History Museum. We drove from Rabat to Casablanca. Gourmet meal en route.

Rental car returned. In a hotel at the airport tonight. Some downtime to get a bit of admin done.