CASABLANCA (Day 1)

We landed at the airport in Casablanca, and in broken French (which was still decidedly better than our Arabic; very few people spoke English), we got ourselves on a train into town. Having heard so much about the amazing Moroccan hospitality, we decided to have traditional mint tea with a very friendly Berber sailor who approached us nearby the station... and were quickly swindled out of 200 dirhams (about US$ 20). But at least he was friendly the whole time as he conned us with a smile on his face, so we just looked at the whole situation as being some VERY expensive tea.

We then wandered our way through the large, busy, noisy, dirty streets and eventually arrived at the enormous Hassan II Mosque, the second biggest religious monument in the world (Mecca is number one). It was finished in 1993 (in time for Hassan II's 60th b-day) after 6,000 craftsmen worked on it day and night for 5 years. The stunningly large building with its 689-foot tall tower was picturesquely located on the hazy Atlantic coastline. It was an art piece of carving and mosaic patterns. As it was a Friday, we weren't allowed inside the mosque but we could quickly peek in. Supposedly it can hold up to 25,000 people (up to 80,000 more can fit in the large courtyard surrounding it outside). Every last inch was carved or otherwise decorated.

We walked back to the train station only to learn that we had to take a taxi to another station if we wanted to catch the 5:30 train to Meknes. We eventually took our seat in the small second class compartment. It was nice but rather full. After a 4 hour ride, we checked into a pleasant hotel only two blocks from the station.

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