6 Best Sights in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco

Turn left around the corner of the Great Mosque, and you'll see on your right the Abou el Hassan Medersa. Built by the Merenid sultan of that name in the 14th century, it's a fine example of the traditional Koranic school. Like the Bou Inania in Fez or the Ben Youssef in Marrakesh, this madrassa has beautiful intricate plasterwork around its central courtyard, and a fine mihrab (prayer niche) with a ceiling carved in an interlocking geometrical pattern representing the cosmos. Upstairs, on the second and third floors, you can visit the little cells where the students used to sleep, and from the roof you can see the entire city.

At the end of the 12th century, Yacoub al Mansour—fourth monarch of the Almohad dynasty and grandson of Abd al Mu'min, who founded Rabat—planned a great mosque. Intended to be the largest in the Muslim world, the project was abandoned with the death of al Mansour in 1199. A further blow to the site occurred with the strong tremors of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and this tower is the only significant remnant of al Mansour's dream. A few columns remain in the mosque's great rectangular courtyard, but the great tower was never even completed (which is why it looks too short for its base). Note the quality of the craftsmanship in the carved-stone and mosaic decorations at the top of the tower. From the base there is a fine view over the river. Locals come here at dawn to have their wedding photos taken.

Just off the beach about 28 km (17 miles) south of Oualidia, the koubba of an unnamed saint is built on a rock in such a way that it's only accessible at low tide. Some of the cliffs here are truly magnificent, reminiscent of the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

Built in the 1980s by King Hassan II in honor of his granddaughter, this mosque is proof that the tradition of Moorish architecture that produced the Court of Lions in Granada's Alhambra is alive and well. Notice the exquisite sandstone work on the walkways surrounding the mosque, and look up at the colorfully painted geometric designs on the ceilings. The mosque is surrounded by immaculately kept gardens. Non-Muslims may not enter, but there's plenty to admire from outside.

The photogenic Portuguese cistern is where water was stored when El Jadida was still the fortress of Mazagan (some say it originally stored arms). A small amount of water remains, illuminated by a single shaft of light, reflecting the cistern's gorgeous Gothic arches, a stunning effect. According to local legend, this massive spot wasn't rediscovered until 1916, when a Moroccan Jew stumbled on it in the process of enlarging his shop—whereupon water started gushing in.

Close to the Great Mosque (Djemâa Kabir) and the Abou el Hassan Merenid Medersa is the zaouia---a shrine to a Muslim saint of the Tijani order, a mystical Sufi sect founded by Shaykh Ahmad al-Tijani (1739–1815).