The tour commences with a visit to the Mechouar and the exterior of the royal palace, the official residence of the king. Continue to the esplanade of the Hassan Tower, all that remains of the “Unfinished Mosque”, dating back to 1196. Here, at the Hassan Tower, Mohammed V presided over the first Friday prayer meeting on his return from exile in 1956. Opposite the tower is the regal Mohammed V Mausoleum, the royal necropolis. Marble steps lead to a gallery overlooking the impressive chamber containing the white onyx tombs of Mohamed V and his sons, Moulay Abdallah and King Hassan II, the current king's father. The Royal Guard stand guard in their flowing red and white burnous. Next, head to the Kasbah of the Udayas, dating back to the Almohad dynasty. Standing on the south bank of the Bou Regreg estuary, it defended the town from 1666 to 1672. See the 12th-century red ochre ashlar gate flanked by 2 towers, and the oldest mosque in Rabat, the Jamaa El Atiq.