Casablanca

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Got up early this morning to get a Taxi to the Mauritanian Embassy in Rabat. Only to find a note pinned to the wall saying that they don't issue Visas! Serves me right for believing the Lonely Planet and not checking!
The note said that Visa's are issued at 382 Route d'El Jadeda, Bequsejour, Casablanca.



As a result I'm now in Casa. I'll be at the Consulate in Casa first thing in the morning!



I visited the Hassan II Mosque this afternoon in Casa. It is the world's 3rd largest religious building. It can hold over 20,000 people and another 80,000 in the surrounding courtyards.



Casablanca is a very Cosmopolitan City - it hardly feels like I am in Africa. Wide Boulevards, designer sunglasses, and not many veiled women. It could be any port city in Europe. It looks a bit seedy in parts but that's because it's a port. Also after the cold weather inland , the weather is very pleasant.



On a technical point - I had a lot of difficulties yesterday trying to upload photos from cybercafe's in Rabat.



The first place I tried had Windows 2000 as an operating system not XP. This meant that I needed to upload software from the CD Rom that I carry with me. When I tried to upload the software I found that the computer was password protected and needed permission by the system administrator. Rather than try to explain what I was doing, I decided to try another place. With luck they might even have modern software on the computer.



The next place was up some dark steps. On the floor it should have been it was totally dark. I pushed something I thought might be a light. It wasn't. It was a bell, and not for the Cyber cafe but for a flat! A head scarfed woman opened the flat door. I made my apologies and left. I could see, though, when she opened the door; that on the door next to the one that had been opened was a notice that claimed the cyber cafe was open till 10pm. It was only 9pm and it definitely wasn't open.



So, I went down the road and tried another. This one had computers that looked like they should have been in a museum. It was using Windows 98 as an operating system. When I tried to load the program the computer froze up completely. I had to turn the machine off - it would respond to nothing. Anyway, I decided I was wasting a lot of time and it would be better to wait for another day, and another better computer system.



I finally uploaded the Rabat photos along with the Casa photos today, in a cyber cafe that had Windows XP. So, it was quick and easy.

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Photos

Casablanca
Hassan II Mosque. This is the third largest religious building in the world. It was completed in 1993, and built by the current King's father

Casablanca
Hassan II Mosque.

Casablanca
One for any train spotters.
Can you tell me anything about this loco? This is the train I got on to take me from Rabat to Casa.