The Galavanting Andrew U / Europe/Africa 2014: Day 07 (Morocco 02): Oct 11

Slept okay. I think it was just me, but at around 5am I heard some yelling, “HELLO? HELLO?”… Nothing followed. Back to sleep. Hmm.

Sameer had a similar experience in the night around 2am, he heard someone walking around outside our door. He got up and checked and the inner lock of our room was not in place… But nothing was missing. Stealthily looking through the window, he saw some skinny dude that he didn’t recognize…… Hmm.

Anyways, after a bit of breakfast of eggs and breads, we are met at the door by the same cart guy as yesterday who took our luggage and led us through the maze to the van awaiting us. Abdul would be our driver for the rest of the trip, and we are on our way to Casablanca. 2 hour drive. Between the cities there isn’t much, fields and fields as far as the eye can see… with some mountains and trees. Apparently Morocco has had a long long drought, about 15 years. It rains sometimes but not enough to support the agricultural businesses, making tourism the second largest industry in Morocco.

Casablanca. Much different from Marrakech, much more developed, actual buildings, but only low-rise, max 5-6 floors. There really isn’t that much to see apparently. We stopped by the ‘Biggest Mall in Africa’ which was probably about the size of Fairview Mall. Walked the whole thing within 20 minutes. It is heavily influenced by Paris, having a Ladurée and the department store, Gallery Lafayette. I was hoping to find some kind of small design-y store but no luck. In the end, all we did was grab food from the food court and buy bottles of water. Poor Abdul, we think he was just waiting in the car outside.

A quick drive to our next destination, and our last in Casablanca, the 7th of the largest mosques in the world, largest in Morocco and Africa, Hassan II Mosque. It is mainly a green colour, very detailed, there was currently some maintenance going on so one side of it was covered or obstructed with stuff. Nonetheless, we got some nice pictures. As we walked around, we saw that we could take a tour of the inside of the mosque, we did not expect to go inside at all. While deciding whether or not to go in, another tourist joins into our conversation saying that it wasn’t worth her time, so that really made us question it… As a huge tourist group goes in, we decide that we’ll come back shortly after to go in. Might as well. Going to the other side of the mosque to take pictures, we return to the tour entrance, and… you may have guessed… it just closed. Too bad, so sad. Leaving the mosque, there were so many people jumping off into the water just by the mosque, swimming, surfing, chilling.

Off to Rabat! This would be an hour drive once we got out of the city. Entering and driving through Rabat, we realize that it’s quite large. The capital city of Morocco, where the current King resides. That also explains the noticeable increase of cops on the streets. Within the Medina, it was also quite developed. I guess since it was the latest capital city to be built, the innards would be relatively more modern than Marrakech or Fez. Continuing driving through Rabat, we pass Roman ruins, the boardwalk, and a qazbah, finally leading us to a drop off point to which we were led to the Riad we would be staying at. So there still is an area that is built the same way as Marrakech, an interconnected clay wall maze.

Dar El Kebira, our new Riad. The owner looked kinda… not nice, and wasn’t genuinely warm or friendly. She explained that breakfast was included, but dinner was not. There’s a place close-by that is good, and she would draw us a map. Coming back, she said she made reservations for us because it gets busy. Looking up some reviews, we decided that was not where we wanted to go. “Tourist trap” was one of the comments. No, thanks. The Riad itself wasn’t bad though. After settling in and exploring a little to take pictures, we went out to find food. Sameer picked out a restaurant in the city called Tajine wa Tanjia.

Walking along the boardwalk, it was actually quite busy. A lot of people walking around, cotton candy, chips, escargot, small car rides for kids, pretty cool. A lot of the street lamps were out though. Getting closer to the city, the lights got brighter, streets busier. Their light rail is pretty cool too, it looks like their most advanced piece of technology in the city. The contrast between that and the buildings within the medina is kind of crazy but very intentional. Walking to the restaurant, it started to rain a bit, we also passed a lot of street vendors selling toothpaste to toys to jeans and dresses, street kebabs that could be anything, books… We passed their parliament building with guards, fruit juice shops, well.. it was a real city after all. Finally finding the restaurant, in a darker street off to the side, we enter.

Tajine wa Tanjia. It was empty except for one couple, that they sat us beside. Nice ambiance of live music and decor, so very very touristy. I ordered the tanjia chameux – camel! Shortly, our soup came out, bread, etc. Meh. Then the main course, the tanjia was cooked in a small clay pot which is then poured out into a clay plate, seems authentic. Anyways, the camel. I actually enjoyed this dish. Nice and soft, but I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was camel or otherwise. It felt like beef brisket, and although the spices tasted good, you could not distinguish a unique camel taste. Not bad nonetheless. Ice cream as well 🙂

The perks of a private tour? Our driver is cool and picked us up from the restaurant. He also brought us to a fruit juice shop before dropped us off at the Riad. Le Gout du Fruit. Looked like a family-run place, one person would take the order, the old guy behind him would shout it into a microphone, and take the money, with a younger kid just chilling behind him. Not bad, really busy too.

Early day tomorrow, we have yet to see any sights in Rabat.