Casablanca, 8 December 2022

This trip is dedicated to Freeda. We had the most wonderful life toghether and now that she is gone, she has given me the freedom to travel without having to worry about where she will stay. Be well my wonderful fantastic, free, dog companion. 

The rest of our trip is not at all organised. We only have some limited information. Here is what we know.

We fly from Dakhla to Casablanca. 

From Casablanca we hire a car and we organise our trip step by step, day by day.

We fly back to France on the 15th of December from Marrakesh.

Being the control freak that I am, not knowing exactly what I am going to do, gives me anxiety. It also teaches me I need to take a step back from being a control freak and follow the flow. K. is a calming power over me, giving me the reassurance that everything will be ok. 

Before we arrived to Casablanca, I thought the hotel would give us a ride from the airport. I then came to my Travellerlina's senses and said there must be trains to the center of Casablanca! So yes, we took the train. This is the advantage of travelling light, with a back pack and a small suitcase. Not only we payed less for the trip, but we also got in the real world of Casablanca, the smells of spice, the people crowded like sardins in a can, luggage everywhere... the real Morocco. 

Get out of the train, we have 15 minutes of walking. Being the warriors that we are, and with our friend Google, we decided it is do-able.

Get out of the train, a taxi man is offering his services. K. is listening, but me, I am Greek. When you get out of a station in Athens (train or bus) you never ever trust the mafia taxi drivers. I play the bitch lady that leaves on foot. 

It is relatively easy to find the hotel. We leave our stuff and off we go to explore the city. 

Casablanca is a 4 million people city and we are only staying for a day. We are walking towards the Hassan II mosque, the biggest mosque in africa. Built in 1994 it is the kind of Vatican-like mega structure that religion uses to impress you and tell you how small you are. 

Walking to the mosque, we pass from the big european avenues of the center, to the poor slum neighbourhoods of Casablanca. The french call them "bidon-ville", the city made out of bidon, tins. Such a contrast!  

The mosque is closed and we have to wait to get in the yard. The inside of the mosque is forbiden to non muslims - talk about tolerance... K. thinks I have to see the inside of the yard, he's already seen it and tells me it is worth the wait. So we wait. The outside is really beautiful. The sea waves of the Atlantic Ocean, touch the shores of Casablanca and the walls of the mosque.

Time passes and we go inside. I do think of St. Peter's cathedral in the Vatican. It is so big! Beautiful arabesque patterns, colorful mosaics, enormous carved wooden doors, decorated arches, fountains in the shape of stars... it is really amazing.

After the mosque, direction the medina, the market of Casablanca. We start to get the feeling, the vibe  of the city. Small shops, small restaurants... I am a little shy to take out my camera, but no stress, as the trip progressed, I was a lot less afraid to take it out!

My feet are killing me! How many hours are we walking? How many kilometers have we walked? Dakhla training - walking in the sand - was giving fruits. Nevertheless I was really tired. A little pause in the hotel. 

A little about the hotel. Big city hotel, in the center, everything was at walking distance. We were on the 6th floor overlooking buildings, nothing ecxhiting. It was basic and we soon realised it had no hot water. If you decide to visit Casablanca do not go there. It is called The Majestic. Hopefully it was just for one night, so we didn't give it much thought. 

We asked the guy in the reception to find us a car and he said tomorrow morning a car would wait for us at 9 in the morning for 5 days and we could give it back at Marrackesh.

With the serenity of this information, we found a restaurant 5 minutes walk from the hotel and we went to have dinner. It is called Al Mounia and you can see it's really touristic. It is very expensive for moroccan standards and full of westerners, french, americans, british... Anyway, the food and the atmosphere was really nice and we were very tired. We enjoyed our meal and went back to sleep. 

Tomorrow the real adventure begings.