Bonjour mes amis!
What a crazy day! I'm starting to understand some things about Moroccan culture and tourism a bit more. Today I ate breakfast at the hotel, which was mint tea, orange juice, and bread, crepes, and a cake like thing with marmalade. Tea here is served in small silver tea pots and glasses, and mint is very popular. It is just a few mint leaves and a sugar cube, and it is delicious! Juice is everywhere. Every restaurant has a juice menu, and basically all tropical fruits (including avocados!) are on it. Many juice bars are in the street. It is made by hand, and thus is VERY pulpy, and amazing. I have had orange juice and peach juice today, and enjoyed both immensely. I want to try avocado before I leave. After breakfast I headed toward the Old Medina markets. Old Medina is where my hotel is- it is the old part of Casablanca, between the port and a large wall. The old markets are largely souvenirs: leather purses, traditional dresses and sandals, pottery, bongs, wood carvings, beads, paintings, and etc. Further back is expensive jewellery and a lot of rip-offs, like Louis Vuitton, and western cosmetics and shoe brands. I even saw some fake passports for sale! A mix of tourists and locals, it was a cool atmosphere. Once I got to the narrow lanes in the back, men tried to persuade me into back rooms and upstairs to see their "spices." Today I have definitely practiced being stern and on guard today. One section of the walk from the market to my hotel is for some reason the most unpleasant- many young men cat call and women stare. This is what I experienced yesterday when I first arrived, and although it worried me, I discovered that it is much better in other areas of the city. In busy areas, the people are very friendly. They are patient with communication, and help me to understand the culture. One salesman showed me how to spell my name in Arabic! I made many purchases in the old markets, some gifts for my family and friends, and a couple of things for myself, including a small canvas painting and a traditional dress. |
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| Old Medina I then headed to the Place Mohammed V, which is the administrative and proletariat region of Casablanca. The buildings are more french architecturally, and the area is quite wealthy. Many businessmen, diplomats, and politicians were in the area, who fluent in English and recognizing I was a tourist, were quite chatty and friendly. The parks, fountains, and sidewalks in this area are beautiful, and there are people who take your photo feeding the pigeons and selling henna. I got some henna done on my arm for 100dh ($12.50). |
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| Mohammed V Square |
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| My henna. It is on both sides of my arm. The Parc de la Ligue Arabe is lined with palm trees and gardens, and made for a nice stroll. The surrounding restaurants were nice as well. My travel guide said the Notre-Dame de Lourdes, which has beautiful stained glass, is in the southeast edge. I walked to the southeast edge, and there was no church. Google maps now informs me the church is actually several blocks away from the park. What I did find in the southeast corner was very strange, and felt like I was suddenly in the setting of horror movie. The southend of the park was quite dirty, and the one corner was fenced off. Inside was an abandoned carnival ground! The rides were rusted, destroyed, littered, and had pieces clearly stolen. There looked to be 10 or 15 rides, and was a rather large chunk of land. It was eery. |
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Parc de la Ligue Arabe
Anyways, I then headed to the Hassan II Mosque, which was the highlight of my day. The mosque is the largest in Morocco, and is situated on the ocean. It has a large marble courtyard outside with fountains, where children and tourists were wandering, then several series of arcs and steps before the building. It is marble, with gold leaves, and blue, greens, and light browns, with a tall tower. There are prayers 5 times a day, so they run tours between, when I was lucky to arrive just in time. There was a tour in English, where I learned an awful lot from the entertaining guide, and met English-speaking people from Holland, Sweden, Russia, and other European countries. No American or Canadian though. They had me cover my shoulders with my scarf and remove my shoes before going in. The guide says that it was not for religious reasons, but to keep the mosque clean. The ceiling of the mosque, which is beautifully carved wood opens up at 10:30am every day to cool the mosque, as it is not air conditioned. Although being highly mechanized, they blend in the mechanisms and the 300 loud speakers with the architecture, so it looks entirely old. In the basement is the area for washing, separate for men and women. They must wash their ears, face, hands, elbows, and feet 3 times before praying. This is a beautiful part of the mosque. Like the shoes, this is not religious, but traditional and to keep the mosque clean. Underneath this level is the bathing, which is a large pool, again men and women are separate. This is the social aspect of the mosque. The mosque was built according to instruction is the Quran, so some of the mosque is actually built over the ocean. The guide mentioned that the pillars on the lower levels, though they appear marble, are Venetian Plaster, which soaks up the humidity, so the chandeliers do not oxidize and change colour. I thought that was cool. In the tour group I met a couple, Emmanuel and Maria. Emmanuel is from Sweden, and Maria from Brazil. they met in the Amazon but now live in Paris. They were both really interesting and fun, and I spent the rest of the day with them, and I was hassled much less my men in the markets because of it. Like me, it was their first trip to Africa, though Maria has been to many Arab and Islam countries.
After the mosque, I headed to the new medina, which was similar to the old medina, but much more beautiful and less tacky I thought. The royal palace is near by as well. Speaking of royalty, Morocco is a monarchy, and photos of the king are absolutely everywhere. I am unsure if this is law or because the people really do love him. The new medina was my second favourite part of the day. There were beautiful Moroccan carpets for sale, as well as dishware. More expensive, and less pushy salesmen made for a lovely afternoon. Emmanuel, Maria and I had dinner and I ate cous-cous with vegetables, chicken, and bouillon. Yum! They taught me how to play a card game called "Shithead"as our juice was being freshly squeezed... Aaaaaah. |
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Carpets in New Medina
After dinner Maria, Emmanuel and I parted ways and I headed to my hotel, as the sun was starting to set. Other random things I haven't mentioned: Taxis here take up to three people going to different places, as long as one isn't too out of the way. KFC is very popular here, I have seen three when I wandered outside the Old Medina and Mohammed V, and saw someone with a Colonel Sanders backpack. I have seen one McDonalds, and one Shell station. 6 million people live in Casablanca, and out of 32 million Moroccans, only 23,000 are Christian. Also, I saw two donkeys and rickshaws in the city today! Many people have carts they push with products, especially water bottles. Lastly, I would have loved to see more mosques, but I was not allowed in most, just Hassan II. Since returning to my hotel I have been served delicious mint tea once again by the lovely staff here, and will probably spend the rest of my evening writing postcards. There is a post office next door! Lucky! Keep Smiling :) |
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