Official Name: Kingdom of Morocco Religions: Muslim, Christian 1%, Jewish 0.2%	Capital: Rabat (population 1.2 million) Per Capita GDP: $1,030	Languages: Arabic (official), several Berber dialects, French Currency: Moroccan Dirham (~10.3 dirham = $1.00 US)
Our Route:  This was the first country on our round-the-world journey.  We spent about 3 weeks here before moving across the Strait of Gibraltar and into Spain. We flew in to Casablanca from Frankfurt, Germany (very jet-lagged still). From Casablanca, we caught a train south to the imperial city of Marrakech. From Marrakech, we took a bus to Essaouira on the lovely coast, then returned to Marrakech. From Marrakech again, we hired a car for 10 days. We then drove through the High Atlas mountains into the sub-Saharan region around Zagora. After several days in Zagora, we drove north to Rissani before returning west, over the spectacular Middle Atlas mountains. We spent several days in the Middle Atlas before heading on to the imperial city of Fez. From Fez, we took a train north to Tangier, where we stayed the night before taking the 2-hour ferry ride to Alegeciras, Spain. We saw most of what we wanted to see in Morocco, with the exception of the Saharan sand dunes of Erg Chebbi (Mike's sudden case of strep throat stopped us short of this goal).

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