Casablanca

I have been to South, East, and West Africa, so it was time to head North - Morocco. Arrived September 23 after meeting up with Chris at Charles de Gaulle airport. She had a short connection, but she made it, and our luggage even did, too, at the Casablanca airport. Since we were on a later flight than the rest of the "pre-trip" group, we took a taxi to our hotel. We met our guide Aziz, who thought we had missed our flight since we were "late." Later he found out that the guide before him had all the information about our flight and failed to inform him. Hope that is not a sign of confusion to come.
In our room on the bedside table was a sticker that told us where East is so that we would know which direction Mecca is in order to pray. I was obliged to lie on the bed and do my prayers.
Anyway, less than an hour later, we met our fellow travelers, and were off to see some of the city. Of course we had to see a church, apparently a cathedral, which had beautiful stained glass windows. We stopped at a café by the ocean for cookies and a drink that the others had received earlier (guess we weren't supposed to miss anything). We also rode by Rick's Café (a la Casablanca). Our dinner was in an elaborately decorated restaurant in the hotel.
We started the next day at the huge Hassan II Mosque. The day before we had seen it from the beach front at an area called the Corniche. This mosque is the third largest and one of the few open to the public. It is said to be so big that St. Peter's Basilica could fit inside it. It can hold 25,000 people. On the outside there is room for another 80,000. There is amazing woodcarving and tile work inside and the roof even retracts. 6,000 artisans worked on it and it was finished in 1993, costing over half a billion dollars and paid for mostly by the Muslim faithful. Quite a feat for something built in this day and age.
Morocco believes pretty much in separation of religion and politics, and there are police at services to keep it that way. If an imam starts talking politics during a service, he will be fired. The people here seem very tolerant of others. Actually, Morocco is not really an Arab country, but a Berber country, going back to when they were thought of as barbarians. The latest influence (until early 1900's) was the French, so there is very little English known, just French and Moroccan Arabic.
The rest of the day was in the bus riding to Essaouira. We were along the Atlantic coast much of the way. There are squares of farmed land, high cliffs along the beach, little communities, and even vast red hills on the other side of the road from the beach. Also, plenty of vast land covered with rocks. Guess that is why we can say we are in "more rocko". There are a lot of land with nice rock walls around themAfter we were settled in the hotel, we walked through the medina or old city within the walls of Essaouira. Everywhere is a market for something for tourists or locals. There is especially a lot of activity around 5:30 when people, mostly men, are out buying food. Everybody fasts (food & water) from sun up to sun down. A siren sounds (as if there is a tornado coming) at 6:35 to break the Ramadan fast. The shops close and everybody goes home to eat. Around 7:30 the shops reopen and the city comes alive again.
Tuesday we had an Arabic lesson. Chris is doing quite well in her lessons, but there is a difference in classic Arabic and Moroccan Arabic - like a dialect difference. Here most everyone speaks Arabic or French and not much English, so bargaining can be difficult and entertaining.
The fishing pier at the city port was a real working port with overwhelming sights and smells. Widows of fishermen come early to be given fish to sell in order to be able to survive without a man. It is amazing to see all the activity going on as well as the cats waiting for their share.