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| The minaret at the Hassan II Mosque is decorated with green tiles |
My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures—some pre-retirement, some post. Today’s location: Morocco.
After a transatlantic cruise, our flight back to the United States from Barcelona had an 18-hour layover in Casablanca. We were flying on Royal Air Maroc, and I had seen online that the airline would provide lodging for long layovers. We decided to believe that, and so we went to Morocco without a hotel reservation. Sure enough, the airline did give us a hotel voucher, and provided transportation to the hotel as well. Had it not worked out, we would have figured something out (maybe sleeping in the airport?) but we were sure glad the airline made the arrangements for us.
Our 18-hour layover actually became a 19-hour layover, because we just happened to arrive the night before the clocks turned back an hour. Although Morocco does not observe daylight savings time in the same way most of the United States does, for the month of Ramadan, clocks are turned back one hour, which allows people more time to eat after sunset, since observers of Ramadan fast during daylight hours. While some of our layover was spent sleeping in a hotel, we also had half a day to tour the city. We chose to hire a private tour guide, Sanaa, who was able to maximize our time.
We started by driving past the Hassan II Mosque, with the promise that we would return when it opened to the public for tours. Then we were off to watch the waves near the lighthouse.
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| The outside of the Hassan II Mosque, with its tall minaret |
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| Waves break in the ocean near the rocky shore of Casablanca |
It might have been touristy, but we also took a photo in front of Rick’s Café, from the classic movie Casablanca.
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| My husband and I stand between two palm trees in front of Rick's Cafe--a tall white building |
Our guide then took us to see Café Maure, where she had us sit behind a display that she said represented a wedding table laden with traditional gifts.
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| My husband and I sit behind a table that is covered with a black tablecloth with many containers of spices, etc. on top |
By that time, the Hassan II Mosque was open to the public, so Sanaa dropped us off there so we could take an hour-long guided tour. It is the third largest mosque in the world and is impressive not only for its size, but also for the details surrounding its design. The roof is retractable, and most of the stones used in the construction of the building came from Morocco.
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| The inside of the mosque shows a spacious, open interior, with ornate details on the white walls |
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| The line in the middle of the golden ceiling is where the ceiling opens as it retracts. |
Because Ramadan was starting in a few days, crews were busy covering the floor with mats to accommodate extra worshippers.
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| In the top left part of the photo, a group of workers can be seen rolling a cart of mats in preparation for Ramadan. |
Our (English-speaking) tour guide took us downstairs to show us the washing area, where attendees wash symbolically in preparation for praying.
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| A large stone wash area downstairs in the mosque |
When our tour of the mosque was done, Sanaa picked us up and showed us a traditional market, with its narrow walking aisles and friendly shop owners. Sanaa had heard from Americans on previous tours about our current egg shortage, and was eager to show us that Morocco has plenty of eggs available. She was also intrigued to learn that we buy eggs by the dozen, as in Casablanca, you can buy one egg at a time, if that is what you need.
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| Open cartons of eggs are stacked in a market in Casablanca |
After the market, we walked for a few minutes through Casablanca’s largest park and enjoyed the beautiful fountains and palm trees.
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| Palm trees line a walkway, with a water fountain in the foreground |
We then finished our tour with lunch at Nessyou Fish restaurant, where freshly-caught fish are made to order. We had various traditional side dishes as well and definitely did not leave hungry!
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| The restaurant owner takes a selfie with us and our tour guide, Sanaa as we enjoy our meal. |
Although we would have loved to have more time to spend in Morocco, I’m glad our long layover gave us a chance to get an introduction to Casablanca!
Come back tomorrow to see where in the world we’ll visit next!
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