It took us about five minutes to get through  Customs in Casablanca, which is very different from our  experiences with getting though Customs in New York. Nick and I, and Jennifer and Andy, were picked up by an O.A.T. representative, Samir, who told us that the drive would take about an hour to reach our hotel in Rabat, one of Morocco’s ancient imperial cities  and its capital since 1913.

When we arrived at our hotel, we were met by our our guide, Hassan, with whom we had corresponded before the flight. Our group members would be arriving at various times throughout the day, and we would all meet for dinner. Nick and I had  lunch with Jennifer and Andy. One of the typical dishes in Morocco is called a tagine, named after the vessel in which the protein (chicken, beef, lamp, or fish) and vegetables are cooked. Nick and I shared a  fish tagine and a lemon tart for dessert, while our new friends shared a meat tagine with French fries.  After lunch, the four of us decided to walk to the Royal Palace. After doing quite a bit of walking, we reached the entrance, but we discovered that the palace was closed. Jennifer and Andy continued on to the necropolis, while Nick and I returned to the hotel.

We each had a map, but getting back to our hotel was confusing. We had trouble finding street signs,  and when we found them, we couldn’t read the Arabic. Nick likes to solve issues like this on his own, but I prefer to ask a local for help. We asked several locals for directions, and each did his or her best, although no one knew precisely where our hotel was.  Eventually, we looked up and saw the name of our hotel on its rooftop.

Soon it was time to meet our co-travelers. O.A.T. has tours to every continent, and most of the members of our group had been on several O.A.T trips previously. In fact, two couples met on a previous trip and became travel buddies, and several single travelers did the same thing. They described their previous trips to  destinations that included Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Southeast Asia, and the Galapagos Islands.

We enjoyed dinner at the hotel. We chose sea bass, potatoes, vegetables, and an almond tart for dessert.

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