Rabat

The Oudayas kasbah looks over the Bouregreg estuary, its walls white and blue up to shoulder height. The Hassan tower was left unfinished when the sultan died in 1199, and the columns still wait for their roof. A city of offices and gardens, quieter than its southern neighbour.

Rabat is a capital without a capital's noise. People work here, study here, and find gardens where other cities have traffic.

The Oudayas kasbah looks over the mouth of the Bouregreg. Its walls are blue and white to shoulder height, white above, and the Moorish café at the end of the street has served tea since 1917, facing Salé and the sandbar.

The Hassan tower was meant to be the tallest minaret in the world. Work stopped when Yacoub al Mansour died in 1199. The columns still wait for their roof, lined up in open space, and it is more striking than a finished monument.

The Chellah is a Roman site turned Merinid necropolis, overrun by fig trees and storks. You enter through a fourteenth century gate and walk between tombs and columns.

Rabat embroidery is a precise stitch, silk thread on linen, in restrained floral patterns. A tablecloth takes six weeks, and the embroiderers work from home.