RABAT, MOROCCO

June 2015

The worst day of my life, turned out to be the best. My friend Christina and I arrived by train in Rabat at midnight, only to discover that the room for our hotel (Sofitel Jardin des Roses) was unavailable. And worse, the hotel was full. The desk attendant found us a hotel across town, a dump where we were so terrified we slept on top of the covers, in our clothes and placed our suitcases in front of the door for extra security.

The upside? The taxi driver who took us there gave us his card and spoke English. The following morning, he picked up us and took us on a tour of his city. The first stop? The Mausoleum of Mohammed V (1971), which contains the tombs of the Moroccan King and his sons, King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah. The structure is often called a "masterpiece of modern Alaouite dynasty architecture."