My Casa

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We arrived in Casablanca on a sunny afternoon, Boxing Day, after travelling 30hrs through France, Spain and on a very rocky boat across the Strait of Gibraltar. The city is expansive and modern, with white sky scrapers and cars. Cars, cars, cars, two million cars all madly beeping their horns. Their are donkeys and slums too, and all of them have satellite dishes or antennas. For us, its all a blur, weak legged from sitting so long and choking on the pollution we drive around forever before finding Sidi and Antoine and dropping our bags at the hostel.

Then, we dove right into the Medina, to the shops and smells. We ate sunflower seeds, cracking the shells in our teeth and spitting them out. We took the car out of the Medina for ice cream near the coast and kebab in by the cinema. Sidi was taking us on the most sanitized tour of the city, sticking to the well lit, moneyed neighborhoods, to the French-style cafés and glaceries.

The Hassan II Mosque is gigantic, touring over the Atlantic in sterile peace. Its the third largest mosque in the world and is as beautiful as it is new. I wish there were some trees around it, but in Morocco, there are lots of tiled squares, blinding in the sunlight. My guide book tells me that there used to be a sprawling slum here. They bulldozed it to build the mosque and kicked out the residents with no compensation. Beyond the Mosque lies the library, low ans sprawling into the square. We take tons of pictures as the sun begins to set, and the mosque's white stone turns to a pale camel colour, then rose.

Beyond the library lies the humming city and the mud-built huts, donkeys and palm trees.

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Comments

[Mom]

Casablanca
I feel like I'm there with you.

[peter barker]

yor picture
Hi Madison: I'm straining trying to look at your sideways picture.......can you set it straight so I can save on my chiropractic bills. Your mom gave me directions to your blog so I'm about to read about your trip. Enjoy yourself.