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
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