TRAVEL|MOROCCO

Casablanca

It’s nothing like the movie

Well, not to sound too negative, I didn’t like Casablanca from the first moment we set foot outside the airport. The haggling taxi drivers, the rain, almost being run over crossing the street, and having to walk through the “souk” to get to our hostel did not make a good first impression.

But the generosity and loveliness of our hostess made up for it. When we woke very late, she made us the most delicious tajine eggs and mint tea and “pancakes” with apricot jam and creamed cheese. We were starving!

The Hassan II Mosque

I can’t believe I didn’t bother showering before we headed out to see the Hassan II Mosque close-by. The Medina Hostel’s proximity to the Mosque was the main reason I booked it — that, and the price! $17.20 per person per night, including breakfast! The breakfast alone was worth more than that! Also, we had blown our budget from our previous week in Iceland.

Oh the Mosque! It surpassed all expectations. We signed up for a mosque tour, and since I was lagging behind, hiking pole (Stacey calls it my walking stick) in hand, I was offered a lift in one of those buggies. I must look like an old woman. I think I might be in denial, but I certainly felt like one. My legs still hadn’t recovered fully from yesterday’s flights.

We entered the mosque, took off our shoes and put them in a green bag. Stacey’s hiking boots needed two bags! We milled about waiting for our guide to start but the French, Italian and German groups set off first. We marvelled at the beauty of the architecture. It took 6 years to build and was completed in 1993. The mosque is made from materials from all around Morocco: marble from Agadir, cedar from the Middle Atlas and granite from Tafraoute. Inside, it’s massive: 200 m long, 100 m wide and 65 m to the ceiling.

The minaret is 210 metres high, the second-highest in the world. The mosque itself is the third-largest: Mecca and Medina are larger, but I think it is the most beautiful of the mosques I have seen. 12,500 people were employed to build it, and I reckon a lot of those would have been tile craftsmen. Each tile — and there are millions and millions of them — has been individually cut!

The mosque can fit 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 outside. There are 60 speakers fitted in the building but you can’t see them. They have been fitted into the design of the columns. Just mind-blowingly beautiful. Of course, it’s been built so the worshippers, even the Imam, all face Mecca when they pray.

There’s even a downstairs area where hands and feet are washed before entering. You can understand why when you walk on the carpeted areas. My feet were designed to walk on carpets like these. No pain at all!

Hassan II Mosque Hammam

I had seen a sign saying Hassan II Mosque Hammam and wondered if it were here somewhere. Yes, we discovered it — underground.

What a wonderful experience! We bought the basic experience — soaping and scrubbing — which doesn’t sound like much but has to be experienced to be believed. First washing ourselves clean (we were both pretty dirty) then sweating out a few more toxins in the steam room before receiving an all-over body massage several times; first with an exfoliating glove, then several times with soap, back and front on a marble table. I thought I was going to slip off! If this is what all hammams are like, I’m having one everywhere I go. My body needs them! The best $29 I’ve ever spent!

The Corniche

By the time we finished, it was dark. The Corniche had been recommended to us and didn’t look too far away, but it started to rain so we hailed a red “petit-taxi” who took us to Restaurant Essaâd which he recommended.

It wasn’t cheap, only accepted cash, and was possibly the toughest, stringiest chicken I’ve eaten in my entire life. Very disappointing. The beer was good though, and Stacey enjoyed her meat tajine; quite tender and tasty and cooked with prunes.

We caught another red taxi back to the entrance to the medina. I hoped Stacey knew the way back. She did! I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t notice anything last night except the two suitcases ahead of me. Once again, I collapsed into bed without a shower, but tonight I was squeaky clean — literally! Breakfast again was served by our hostess. I ate the egg tajine and drank the mint tea, but I just couldn’t eat. I think I was nervous about actually getting out of the city in one piece.

Hiring a rental and getting out of the city

I had seen the drivers and didn’t know how Stacey would cope. She did admirably well, and I didn’t leave too many kittens behind in Casablanca, although there are certainly lots of real kittens around living on the fish, meat and chicken scraps from the souk stalls.

Goodbye Casablanca! Apart from the beautiful Mosque and the even more wonderful Hammam, I wasn’t sad to leave.