I spent yesterday in Casablanca, a loud, noisy city that is best known throughout the world for the classic film named after it. Before we came to visit, Lauren and I made sure to watch the movie and of course immediately afterwards we wanted to visit Rick's Cafe.
Casa is only an hour train ride from Rabat, a fun and easy getaway for weekend trips. We stayed in a small hotel in the center of the city, ride behind the Old Medina. Casa's medina is much smaller and less crowded than the ones we have seen in Rabat and Fes. After settling in, we walked towards Casa's largest tourist attraction, the Hassan II mosque which is the the 5th largest mosque in the world. It was an impressive site, built on the Atlantic Ocean, with the tallest minaret in the world.
I was the only one from my friends who was allowed inside since I'm Muslim. The inside is just as grandiose, with large intricately carved walls and ceilings, royal chandeliers, and large, silent prayer rooms where I did the 'Asr prayer. Outside it was a beautiful day and there were groups of people, locals and tourists, just hanging out on the ledges by the water, soaking in the sun and taking in the beautiful site.
We passed through Rick's Cafe, which is on a small side street and on the third floor of the building. We didn't go inside but I wonder if they had the famous piano from the movie to play 'As Time Goes By.'
On our way home we passed the Naval Camp in Casa, and saw groups of marines who had just returned home. They were all really friendly and we started up conversations and started taking pictures with them. But then their commander came running out and shouting at them angrily because they're not supposed to take pictures in their uniforms. The marine I was talking to actually grabbed my camera and deleted the picture.
In the evening we went to a fancy Moroccan restaurant with a group of American students who are studying in Spain, who we met in our hotel. Since it was Friday, we all ordered different kinds of couscous. Mine was the traditional one with no meat and 7 types of vegetables.
After the dinner we tried to get a taxi to go back to the hotel and when he tried to charge us 50 dirhams, we scoffed and slammed the door on him. Mind you, this is only $5 in USD but hey, it's the principle! The group of us ended up walking back, which took us an hour and half, and by the time we got back, we were absolutely exhausted. Casablanca is not the romantic city you would expect it to be from the classic love story. In fact, in some ways it is more like Cairo, with dirty roads, broken sidewalks, heavy traffic, and lots of crowds.
Apparently there are planned protests to be held in front of the Parliament in Rabat tomorrow morning so we were told to be back from our trip today. I don't think it will be too huge, but that's what we said in Egypt, and look what happened there. I don't think I can handle any more protests. I guess I'll see what happens tomorrow....
