Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 215

4/7/07 Rabat--Casablanca We caught the train to Casa in the morning. Since we weren’t staying the night there, we had to take our bags all the way to the bus station to hold them for us. It took us a bit to find the station, since street signs are not exactly a regular occurrence. From there, we made our way along the Blvd des Almohades which led us directly to the Hassan II Mosque. The Mosque is pretty much the only reason we stopped in Casa in the first place (I had heard that there really wasn’t much to do there). As we approached it, its size just kept increasing. It really is quite massive, and considering it is the worlds third largest mosque I suppose it would have to be. We paid our 60dhms (about ... read more

As much as I wish we could say we found Humphrey and Ingrid in Casablanca, I think we're some decades and a reality away. We did, however, find the third largest mosque in the world. This was actually our only reason for stopping in Casablanca since we had heard the city itself was a dirtier and less charming Rabat. From our walks between the train stations and the mosque, with the exception of a few nicer streets, we found this statement to be pretty accurate. The Hassan II Mosque is quite stunning; King Hassan II, who was inspired by the verse from the Quran that states God's throne was built upon the water, developed the idea for this mosque right on the ocean and made the project his crowning achievement. The guided tour (the only ... read more

4/5/07 Granada--Algeciras--Tangier--Rabat We had to wake up early this morning in order to catch our train, and were unable to have any of the free breakfast (which included waffles) from the hostel. Originally our plans were to meet up with two of the guys we know from Galway and to travel down to Morocco, but we found out that they had similar issues with transportation and so there was a very good possibility that they would not make it in time. However, all of Sudie’s fears were put to rest when, upon walking into the station, there were the boys. The scenery from the train through the southern part of Spain was gorgeous. When we arrived we asked directions to the port (which was pretty much just a straight shot), and then set about trying to ... read more

We took the train from Marrakech (southern city) to Fez (northern city) and saw the cities of Casablanca, Rabat (capital city), Menkes from afar, arid regions, lush countryside, farms fenced in by cactus, glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean, more satellite dishes than we could count, and two camels! A time to relax before visiting Morocco's first Imperial City, Fez, the ancient capital and centre of religious and cultural life in Morocco. The city with a hat named after it! Not completely unexpected, the trip took much longer than anticipated. Due to the Prophet's birthday, the Mouloud, which is the fourth largest religious holiday, Moroccans and Pilgrims from North Africa travel across Morocco like we planned to do two days prior to the festivities! While it gave us the chance to get to know our compartment mates ... read more

Hello at last from Morocco!!! So, to fill you in on what's been happening since I left Ireland (if I can figure out how to work this arabic keyboard ... nightmare) I left Ireland just over 2 weeks ago and flew to Marbella, Spain where I was to meet my 15 travelling buddies for the next 6 months. A great mix of ages and nationalities, yet everybody has similar interests and seem to get on surprisingly well. To give you an idea, the youngest is 19 and the oldest is ... well, to be polite I'll not mention his exact age, but he is retired. As for nationalities, I'm the only Irish person, the others being from England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. Unfortunately we ended up spending almost a week ... read more