We arrived into Casablanca at roughly 3pm, and after loosing time, gaining time, we were feeling a little dizzy. We made our way to customs and hit a line longer than the great wall. Seeing this Jarratt said "They need to sort this our before the Olympics" which made Bec and the few Australians behind us chuckle. Promptly after making this comment we were quickly waved through the diplomatic line and processed rather quickly. We then boarded a train headed for Casablanca's Casa Port.
After finding our hostel in the centre of the Medina, we dropped our bags and headed out to explore. Jarratt had found a wonderful walking tour that was meant to take 45 minutes, however I don't believe lonely planet had factored in the getting lost and domestic squabble that comes after 12hours of travelling combined with little to no sleep. After eventually giving up we decided to reward ourselves for not getting too lost (or killing each other) to a flash dinner overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at a seafood restaurant. Trying to order proved difficult when we were presented with a french menu! Thankfully our lovely waiter ordered a fantastic meal on our behalf and essentially tripled his tip! :) After dinner we feel straight into bed and slept happily.
The following morning we travelled out to the Hassan II Mosque which is the third largest mosque in the world. It is also one of the only mosques opened to non-Muslims. It is a remarkable building which towers to the height of Notre Dame and was built in just less than 6 years! In the one hour tour we visited the main prayer hall, the washrooms and a traditional hamman; it was well worth the visit.
Us at the Hassan II Mosque!Rabat
After a short (one hour) train ride from Casablanca we arrived in Morocco's Capital, Rabat. Once again we dumped our bags and made a beeline for the old town. This time we found ourselves wandering a much more ordered Medina, full of spices, olives and all things typically Moroccan. We even felt brave enough to sample a brochettes (a sort of sandwich with cooked mince meat and spices) from a quaint hole in the wall place for lunch before continuing onward and upward to Rabat's Kasbah. It was at the Kasbah where we rocked out (hehe) and Bec's love of Moroccan doors, mint tea and sugary sweets began. The afternoon saw us head to Mohammed V's Mausoleum and the Le Tour Hassan, before getting caught in the rain and heading to our lush hotel room for a siesta. We awoke later in the night to sample our first tajines, which are famous Moroccan stews cooked in earth ware pots. We then spent the rest of the night camped out on our balcony eating ice cream and watching the donkeys wander past.
Bec and her Brochettes
Fes
We arrived in Fes just after lunch without having accommodation lined up and thought we'd just "Billy Wyatt" it! We managed to find a nice young chap who took us to a local family run riad inside the Medina. After getting settled in an amazing room, we again hit the old town to check out the sights. Along the way we scored ourselves a wonderful little guide, who wasn't all that wanted or familiar with the difference between English and French. Despite repeated "Parlez-vous l'anglais?", he continued to reply "oui!" and continue to speak to us in French. After tossing our tour guide a few dirham we headed towards a local dinner and show where we had our first taste of couscous.
The next morning, bright and early we headed out to the tanneries, that were really spectacular! The tanneries is where animal hides are taken, stripped and dyed to be turned into leather bags, slippers, coats, cushions, everything you can imagine! After having the owner explain to us the process and his top retail man pushing the hard sell on us we left empty handed. We then headed back to our riad where our hostess treated us to an ENORMOUS homemade couscous which she packed up for us to take on our 7 hour train ride to Marrakech!
The Tanneries
Marrakech
We arrived in Marrakech, a little late and a little scared. When we eventually found our hostel we desperately wanted to fall into bed and straight to sleep, unfortunately a few british birds with wafty blonde hair prevented that until the wee hours of the morning. The following moring over breakfast we met a lovely Australian couple who had been just as impressed with the previous nights antics as we had. We decided then and there to accompany them for the day... together we explored the Palais de la bahia (palace ruins) and the Saadien Tombs, but after a while J got the shits with it all (literally) and we had to head back to our hostel. Later that night we all went to an amazing Moroccan/Thai fusion place that overcharged for beers and chased us down over 10 dirham (roughly 1 Australian dollar), it had been an interesting day!
The following day we trekked out into the Atlas mountains for a visit to a berber village, a camel ride and a mountain trek. We are proud to report that another mountain has been climbed by Bec in her thongs... you think she'd learn...hehe. On our final day in Marrakech we wandered the souks, where Bec took nearly a million photos, played with snakes and the snake charmers in Djemaa el-fna square and found a wonderfully lush hotel that gave a very memorable kind of hamman and massage.
Our last day of the trip was spent travelling 15 hours by bus, train and plane to arrive safely back to our house on the monolopy board.
Us with the snake charmers in Djemaa el-fna square
Til next time... take care of yourself, and each other!!! :P
3 comments:
Where is the photo of the Camel Heads, where are all the people?
The place was packed where the snake charmers where when we were there.
No charm rubbed off on J than Bec.
Hope you had a great Birthday Bec, we were thinking of you. Speak to you both soon. Love Mum.
Where is the photo of the Camel Heads,where where all the people? it was packed around the snake charmers when we were there. So no charm rubbed off on J than Bec.
Hope you had a very happy birthday Bec,we were thinking of you.
Speak to you soon love Mum.
Brochettes what were you thinking??
Offcourse you got the shits.
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