Lois felt a bit nauseous when she woke up and gradually felt worse on the drive to Rabat. Fortunately, the drive was all autoroute, so no winding roads. The weather was grey, cloudy and windy, with intermittent rain showers as we passed through flat land and rolling hills. The countryside looked lush and green, with fields of wheat, olive groves and other crops, and further on, pastureland for cattle and sheep.

Close to Rabat, we drove through the Maâmora forest, the largest cork oak forest in the Mediterranean. Also a recreational area for the inhabitants of four major cities and the main source of income for the local population, the forest is included in a recent restoration plan to address habit degradation and loss. Just inside the city, we passed the Royal Palace, marked by high walls and two sentries on guard every 50m or so. Khalid pointed out the Grand Theatre, a large performing arts center, and Hassan Tower, as well as the immense Mohammed VI Tower, the second tallest building in Africa at 250m, which will house a hotel and apartments. As befitting a capital city, the streets outside the Medina are grand boulevards with lawns, flowering shrubs and manicured trees.

On our arrival at our Riad, Lois, who clearly now had an acute GI bug, went straight to bed, soon developing a fever. Paul ventured out later to find some food and to have a look at the stormy sea from a large cemetery overlooking the coast. He returned to the hotel with fresh bread, Dutch cheese, bananas and local cookies. The hotel staff also kept us well supplied with tea, oranges and fizzy water for Lois. Fortunately, by morning, Lois’ symptoms had improved to enable us to make our 7:55 flight. The early start was made easier by the fact that it was the start of Ramadan and the clocks had gone back an hour during the night. Khalid was waiting for us at 5:30 am for the quick drive to the airport. We wished him Ramadan Kareem and, with some regret, said goodbye to Morocco.