A Moroccan whirlwind...comes to an end

Today was a full travel day as we headed home on our 17 hour journey.  Up at 4:00am we packed our things for one last time...said goodbye to our trusted lunch box...and met our cab to the airport by 5:00am.

It was dark, quiet and raining when we jumped in our big white old Mercedes Benz taxi...typical style of taxi around here.  As bid farewell to Morocco, we listened to the Gypsy Kings in the background, complements of our driver.

Along the way, just outside the airport parking, we came to one of the many roadside police checks throughout Morocco and were pulled over...this time it turned out we had a blown headlight, so we were on our way in no time.  As we drove up to the drop off section of the airport we could hear the call to prayer in the distance...very fitting for our last morning here.

Next we made our way to the airport entrance to see a security check at the door...first time in all my travels around the world I've had to go through a scanner when entering an airport!  It was a bit chaotic as people were saying their goodbyes and just standing around, no clear process, and people jumping the line. Lisa was flagged due to her Swiss Army knife in her checked luggage, but after a little discussion...and getting her passport back from the guard...we were on our way.  Just in time to see security patrolling the airport with big machine guns...we've only seen this in Casablanca during our travels in Morocco.  Quite the process to get into the airport here!

With an hour to spare we spent every last dirham we had at the cafe...no real shopping on site...and boarded our plane by 7:45am....glad the rain stopped, because it was a long process of waiting.  

The 3 hour flight was non-eventful...smooth sailing to Paris on Air France.  In Paris we made our way through more security checks and had a short time before we were on our way to Montreal. Beautiful airport in Paris...even found these little treats along the way!

Eight hours later we were going through customs and immigration...and another security...just in time to catch our flight to Halifax.  Overall great flights and connections the entire way home.  Tired and ready for some sleep, we arrived in Halifax at 9:00pm.  What a busy trip!

Now that I am home in the peacefulness of my house, I am sure I will continue to hear the sound of people asking me where I'm from and having the same response from 90% of the the people when we said Canada..."Oh Quebec, Montreal?  I have family there..."...I swear half of Morocco must live in Montreal! With that said, I can also say my 12 years of French immersion...which I haven't used much in over 25 years...was put to good use in Morocco and made my trip that much more enjoyable.

Overall it was a great trip...minus the freezing weather we were not prepared for at the beginning...and there are many highlights we've brought back with us. Here are a few from the diverse melting pot of North Africa...

Top 10 Highlights:

~ Freshly squeezed orange juice, delicious dates and our cooking class at the Amal Women's Training Center...we made delicious tagine!

~ Diverse scenery - snow capped mountains, deep red rock and soil, oasis, palmeries, desert and coastal low lands

~ Beautiful doors, doors and more doors!

~ Hassan II Mosque - majestic in its grandeur 

~ Beautiful Chefchaouen - the city of blue

~ The Sahara by moonlight - stunning and so peaceful

~ The exquisitely refurbished Riads...especially ours in Fes

~ Tea...mint and Berber..."Berber Whiskey"

~ Listening to the various mosques in the distance competing to be heard during the call to prayer...five times daily

~ The wonderful people we've met - in particular the gentle way of the Berbers

Honourable Mention: Lisa would add the community ovens and the wonderful smells of baking bread...not so much for this Lisa who has no sense of smell ;)

Thanks to Lisa for putting up with my late night blogging and for being my fact checker/editor throughout this entire trip...not always an easy task.  For those looking for a country with lots to offer, Morocco may be the place for you...it is under huge development, so I'm sure it will have a different look and feel in the future.

To all those who have followed along our journey and sent messages...Shukran / SaHa / Thank You for sharing in the experience.  

Until next time...

Lisa 1 & Lisa 2

An unexpected oasis in Casablanca

Today is our final day in Morocco...it was a whirlwind adventure for sure...and it's hard to believe it's almost over. We had a late start today, but not a lot on our agenda...only to visit the Hassan II Mosque. We can see this massive piece of architecture from our apartment window....also lit up at night. 

The mosque sits right on the waterfront and encompasses a large area inside and out...space for 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 in the courtyard!!

This is the only mosque in Morocco where non-Muslims may enter and this can only be done on an official tour, between times of worship.  

There was a scheduled tour at 11:00am...we were running late ...so we hurried along in hopes of getting there in time...good thing we had some sense of direction. To our surprise we arrived with 2 minutes to spare.  

What an incredible structure!!  Everywhere you looked there were beautiful things to see, from magnificent chandeliers, intricate woodwork, mosaics and hand crafted plasterwork...using only the best materials such as cedar, marble, granite and glass from Venice.  

It was massive and at times I felt a kink in my neck from constantly looking up...the ceilings were fantastic!  

In the worship area we had to remove our shoes and were allowed to take photos...it was very dark and not a lot of stopping on the tour, so limited photo opportunities which was a shame.

The lower level of the mosque was where worshippers washed before worship...men and women separately...and on the other side there was a huge Hammam that has never been used since the mosque opened in 1993.  

As with all mosques it faces Mecca, however here they have the added feature of a laser that projects from the minaret towards Mecca.  The minaret is a stunning feature itself...the tallest in the world, standing 200m high.  Based on the immense size of this mosque it is no wonder it took 6 years and over 1,400 people working day and night to complete!

When our tour finished we walked around the exterior portions of the mosque.  It's right on the ocean...and the water was crashing in...so it was a nice area to relax, listen to the water and get away from the noise of the city center.  

The outside of this building is just as beautiful and I could not stop taking pictures!!...reminded me of the Taj Mahal due to it's grandness.

At about 1:00pm we decided to head toward the medina...old city...area. Casablanca is a big city...3 million people...and it appears to have lots of development going on.  The entire coastline we walked along was building after building of new construction...very odd to see huge, modern buildings on one side of the road and the medina wall on the other. 

We were on the lookout for a restaurant we read about that was located in an 18th century bastion of the medina wall.  

La Sqala was located immediately as you entered the medina and was full of people...businessmen, tourists and locals of all ages.  The vibe of the restaurant was nice and we had lunch in the calmness of the garden area...chicken skewers, fresh veggies, orange blossom and almond pastilla for dessert, along with Marrakech mint tea.  

A great way to spend my birthday in Casablanca!  

We stayed at the restaurant for over 2 hours enjoying our meal, relaxing and using the wifi...the wait staff here were great as well, especially our smiley waiter...but all good things must come to an end, so we finally headed on our way around 4:00pm.  

On our way back towards our apartment we decided to look in a few shops to finish some last minute shopping.  The medina was very different from everywhere else...the products were not as nice, more household goods and the people were more aggressive, calling you names when you wouldn't come into their shops....not my favourite shopping experience...perhaps the result of being in a big, bustling city.

As we left the medina we started to come across stalls setting up...food vendors for the evening crowd that was starting to come out. Everything from grilled veggies, fish, lamb sausages, beef, brochettes, peanuts, coconut, pineapple, dates, freshly squeezed orange juice, sesame snaps...you name it!  

We also came across an area with all kinds of murals...very nice.

We made it back to the apartment by 5:30pm only to realize we still needed to change some of our money (dirhams) back to Canadian dollars.  What we thought would be a simple task ended up taking us on a walk almost back to the medina before we found a spot open, that had money...we cleaned out the money exchange of Canadian dollars!

Back now at the apartment we are packing up...no sunset to see tonight as it is overcast and spitting rain.  It will be an early start with a 5:00am pick up for the airport...hopefully our cab arrives on time! We have a 17 hour journey ahead of us through Paris and Montreal...looking forward to smooth sailing.

Until then...from home.

Lisa & Lisa

All aboard..Casablanca

Today is our last day in Asilah and we are starting to wind down.  We enjoyed our final Moroccan breakfast with a group from Slovenia, and relaxed for a bit with a cup of mint tea...no sugar.  

After getting our dose of bread, we packed up our bags and enjoyed some sunshine from the Riad terrace before heading out for one last look around.  

It was a beautiful day in Asilah with a nice breeze from the water...seemed to be more people in the area today as compared to yesterday and more shops were open. It was too bad we were here during the off season because I think we missed all kinds of galleries with beautiful artwork for sale...next time I guess.  

While we took in the beautiful view of the water crashing against the rocks, a small music group started to play...we have typically been catching only the last few minutes of music everywhere and this was no different.  After we gave the group some change they started playing again and asked us if we'd like to take a photo...Lisa was a good sport and joined them for a group shot.

We retraced some of our steps from yesterday looking for particular shops we liked.  We found one with some nice jewelry and tried to barter with the guy...he wanted nothing to do with it. The feeling in Asilah is different from other places in Morocco...not sure if it's the region, the fact that it is a touristy location, or just the people we have met...but they don't appear to be as friendly or accommodating.  

We found our way out of the medina in search of an interesting street food cart we came across last night.  Along the way we saw orange/lemon trees...we learned from Amine that the fruit off these trees are not for eating, but instead they let the fruit ferment for about a month and it creates a nice drink.  

Today the food cart, or as we called it, the Moroccan Subway, was not nearly as busy...appears things come more alive at night here. People lined up to have sandwiches made out of a variety of fresh breads and then put things like cheese, Nutella or honey on them to make little sandwiches...these are sold by weight. They also sold sweet treats like homemade donuts and sfenj...they love these little donut shaped fritters...and they would pile them into paper funnels.

With only a few minutes before we had to catch our taxi to the train station, we picked up some water, paid our Riad bill and grabbed our luggage.  

The train station was a bit outside the town and we didn't have our train tickets yet, so we left a bit early.  

The train to Casablanca was scheduled to take 4.5 hours, but ended up taking 6 hours...glad we splurged and purchased a 1st class ticket for $9 dollars extra!! Not much to say about the trip as it was relaxing...but hot and stuffy.  

We were glad to finally arrived in Casablanca and we quickly grabbed a petit taxi...I thought we were going to be in several accidents on our short 10 minute drive!  We arrived at Starbucks, our meeting point with Marco, who was patiently waiting for our arrival.

He took us up to our 10th floor apartment, showed us around and mentioned we will have a perfect view of the sunset tomorrow...can't wait!  We can also see the gigantic Hassan II Mosque...looking forward to visiting there tomorrow; the only mosque in Morocco you can go in if you are not Muslim.

Until then...

L & L 

Sleepy Asilah

We spent a lovely evening at our Riad and arranged for our breakfast at 9:00am with a Spanish family.  Anna, the owner, has refurbished this Riad to the finest detail and the terrace is so inviting...something we plan to take advantage of tomorrow.

After breakfast we headed out to take a look at the medina. Many of the shops and galleries...this is an art community...were still closed at 11:00am, so we headed to the beach area.  

Beautiful views of the surf rolling in and the coastline of Asilah were seen from the shore...I love the sound of the water! The sun was just coming out so it was the perfect time to take in the views of the Atlantic Ocean.

From here we wondered around the small streets seeing very few people, but lots of different colours on the walls, including unique murals along the way.  

We stopped outside a school where an elderly woman happened to come out of her home and we shared some morning chit chat with her...love the friendliness of the people here.

With all the artists in residence, you never know what you will find in Asilah, from wall murals, to musicians on street corners, to people walking the streets selling art.  

While we were stopped trying to figure out where we were, we were approached by a guy selling his art...or so he said.  They were interesting paintings that depicted men and women, typically playing instruments and included scenes of Morocco...they were even painted on recycled cement bags!  We had a long conversation with him about the painting process and the art work itself, and ended up buying some to take home.  Who knows if what he told us was true or not, but it was fun either way.

I love all the different coloured doors, art galleries and murals...can't stop taking pictures!  Around mid afternoon we decided to check out a seafood restaurant recommended by our Riad.  Along the way we took the promenade by the beach...nice sand, but a lot of garbage and of course sheep!  

Lunch was nice, but not what we expected...fish soup with almost no fish.  The most interesting part was seeing how the restaurant filled up with Spaniards after 3:00pm for lunch...very European here.

After lunch we wandered back through a local park and bought some peanuts...peanut stands all around here...and finally ended up at the Centre Hassan II des Rencontres Internationales.  

We heard there was a nice art gallery there and it was worth taking a look.  To our surprise when we arrived, we were ushered into the auditorium to listen to some live Arabic music...for about 30 seconds!  Before we knew it, the recital was over and we ended up in a reception...not sure what for though.  It appeared there was a ribbon cutting ceremony and then everyone moved in a group as someone at the front was being shown all the works of art.  

There were lots of photos being taken and I finally asked a young girl who the gentlemen was...all we could determine was that he was someone famous and an artist.  After the art viewing and pictures were taken, there was a small reception.  Some lovely man came over and brought us tea and made sure we were served chocolate croissants...I guess this is what it's like to be a party crashers in Morocco!!  

We never found out who the man was, but got some close up photos...we could have actually met him we were that close...and enjoyed some treats, before viewing the art.  Love Morocco!!

We did a bit more touring around...bought some things...and even had a cobbler turn his music up for us while we were taking photos of some of his shoes.. He was funny and I'm sure got a kick out of us as we did a little jig for him before we moved on.

While trying to find our way back to the Riad, we came across a shop our Riad told us about where they did Arabic calligraphy...wow!  

I loved watching the gentleman work...we had a great chat with him about Asilah as well. This area is definitely a summer vacation spot and extremely quiet right now.

We finally found our Riad and took a quick break from walking to recharge our batteries...literally.  We then headed back out for dinner around 8:00pm....people eat very late here.  In fact the night is when all the locals are out and about...kids playing, women walking around socialization get with one another, and lots of men at the local restaurants with TV's watching football.  Everywhere we went it was mostly men watching sports...very similar to home when a big game is on.  

We finally decided on a restaurant and feasted on some fish tagine...must eat fish while on the coast...including some Moroccan wine.  It was so interesting to sit and watch as the locals got into the football game...Morocco vs. Spain...shouting for their team, high fiving and waiters getting distracted from time time as something exciting took place.

It was an interesting day and evening in Asilah and so nice to be back on the coast.  Looking forward to seeing what transpires tomorrow as we take the train to Casablanca.

Until then...

Lisa & Lisa