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.

Dakhla, day three and four

Sunday 4th December

No fog this morning.

Had breakfast and looked at the weather.

No wind again today and I feel K. is nervous, frustrated and sad. He tries to handle it, he does not like doing nothing.

Our options are not numerous, we can either walk on the beach in front of us or the beach behind us.

We don't want to go far away in case the wind goes up.

So this day is simple. In the morning we go in the right of the beach (another 2 hours of walking), swiming pool before lunch, and the afternoon we went on the left, towards the hotels that are in front of us in the bay of the Dakhla lagoon. Dakhla started with a single hotel and now they are building massive hotels in the opposite side of Dakhla Evasion, our hotel. It's going to be crazy once they are all booked!

The day had more shells for my collection and some wonderful images. 

In the absence of wind, the birds of the lagoon are sitting still, quietly eating shells in the sand. I do wish I had a better camera to capture the birds, but it's ok! We even saw a crab! I'll put here some of my favorite photos of the day.

Monday, 5 December

Groundhog day

The wind is still not here and we need to just accept it. 

We will return to the ocean behind us, this time by another path - ahem no paths here remember? - any way, instead of going south, we are going north and turning towards the ocean. 

In my head there is a constant cringing. "what the fuck am I doing here" "Why am I walking in this heat" "I hate the desert" "I'm tired" like a child.

Around us yellow sand, blue sky and our favorite electric towers.

Once you start feeling the ocean, everything is finished. You see the waves crushing and the birds playing and you forget everything. No more bad thoughts, I am really happy that I got my two feet moving and came here. This time we did not go down towards the beach, we only watched the ocean from a height. And it was amazing!

in the extreme right, the rock
we already visited two days ago 

Here you realise how little you are and how big and strong nature is. No camera is strong enough, no words are expressive enough to describe what we saw. The earth's heartbeat is in the coming and going of the waves, kilometers of sand, cliffs made of sand by the wind and the water... I will never forget this sensation of power. 

Remember how I love love looove the virgin sand?? Here it's my canvas and I'll write my name on it! I was there! Like a kid I wrote my name, an ephemeral work of art which will fade with the elements, but in my photos, my heart it will stay forever! My name is Elina and I am a traveller.

Going back the sun is really hot and agressive. This is when you realise the style of the desert tribes. I had no choise but to cover my head and face. I was already wearing long sleeves and long trousers despite the heat. Do you think I look like a berber? 

Days are passing by slowly like the song. The living is easy. Nice food, warm weather, toes in the sand... We are in a paradise. We have lost any hope that the wind is going to go up. K. is slowly accepting the fact that he is not going to kite and he is relaxing more and more in this vacation, doing nothing mood.