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Published: December 27th 2010
Welcome to Casablanca
Outside Hassan II Mosque... I probably wouldn't choose to go in one here.
:-)
Casablanca is open for business. The minute we step off the shuttle in the centre of the city we are accosted by taxi drivers who are “making special price just for us” to see the whole city. Time and again we are told it's a big city so we should use the taxi – impossible to walk. We still chose to walk and we are happy we did. What a place! Chaos, beauty and garbage all living in harmony.
Casablanca is home to Hassan II Mosque. Pay the $15...it's worth the tour. First time in a mosque for both Chris and myself. This one was built between 1987-1993 and boasts the highest minaret (tower) in the world. There is a main hall for prayer, Roman and Turkish baths and an ablution hall. It is also very “high-tech”. For example, the roof opens to let in air (it can hold up to 25,000 worshippers inside at one time and over 80,000 outside in the court). Funny...in North America we have great stadiums with roofs that retract too...but we do it for sports....I guess they have different priorities here.
After the mosque we visit the Old Medina (shopping/market). We seem to be the only tourists in here and feel like we stand out like red on green. Here you can get fresh meat (live chickens...buy one and they take them around the corner and have a lady chop the head off and pluck it...now that's fresh!), fish, veggies, spices etc.
We then made our way to the central market where all sorts of wares can be purchased. Upon entering we were greeted by Abdula, our new Moroccan friend. Abdula sells textiles and wanted to make sure we saw his shop...so he took us straight there. An thus, the bartering began. Those of you who know us would probably guess that bartering is not a strong skill for either Chris or myself. However...after our encounter here in Morocco I think we've gotten better.
In traditional Moroccan style Abdula told us about his family, asked us about ours and offered us some tea. 20 minutes, much back and forth, 2 shirts, no 3, no 1, yes 2...we're done. Phew!
We managed to see much of Casablanca's beauty (architecture, foliage, people, live cats) and it's downsides (garbage, excrement, dead cats,
Turkish Baths
Inside Hassan II Mosque etc) by walking the streets. Even though we did feel somewhat out of our comfort zone for much of the day we are glad we did it this way.
It's nothing like Bogey and Ingrid's Casablanca (which was filmed entirely on a sound stage in California)...but I guess we were naive to think it would be.
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Stefan Scott
non-member comment
hooves
I'll take one of the hooves please!