The king's summer palace is on the way and even though he was not there many guards wandered outside the high wall. Muhammad VI is a very popular king having been in power since he was 30, thirteen years ago. He replaced his father who the locals more kindly described as a very powerful man. Moroccans are seeing much more progress under the current king. Even so there is some mistrust as he uses four different guards at his palace all at the same time. Terry calls it "Watching the watchers" or "Divide and rule".
Knowing my love of golf, Mohammad detoured via a golf course. Not quite up to Bunbury Golf Club standards and 500 dirhams (approx $50) for a round with another 100 dirhams for a caddy.
Tetuoan with its white buildings and a backdrop of the Rif mountains was most impressive. The views were not blocked by a heavy coastal mist which occurred on our trip to Chefchouan on Saturday.
Dropped off in Tetuoan we first had a coffee watching locals going by. No local women are seen drinking coffee. As there are so few tourists now we tended to be targeted in the old city called the Medina. "No guide" became our catch phrase.
After a coffee we visited a museum with artifacts of Morocco's ancient inhabitants - many pottery items, urns, wick lamps and mosaic floors.
After viewing the king's palace we went to watch local artisans making beautiful leatherwork, copperwork and weaving.
Their main showroom was full of intricate pearl inlays for furniture and other cultural objects such as wedding thrones. Again we were the only tourists and wandered around freely looking at the craftsmen at work.
Mohammad, who lives near Tetuoan, took us to high vantage points on the trip home.We stopped at a very large supermarket buying up stores that only cost $100. 24 cans of the local Stock beer was a whole lot cheaper than a box of cereal.
A memorable day was complete with Terry cooking a bbq on the stern on Common Sense.
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