And stayed for the “Express.”

On to Casablanca.

Casablanca is a huge city; not at all what you might expect. We drove for more than an hour through suburbs full of big apartment blocks, and passed miles of beach resorts. There was a spectacular amount of building all around. Huge apartment complexes all along the road as far as the eye can see!  Some looked like tourist rentals, others like lower cost housing.

We ended up staying in a sort of abandoned campground, with a guardian, some 40 minutes drive south of the city. Everything was terribly run down, but actually clean and serviceable. It was clearly once a lovely facility.

One of the great attractions of Casablanca is the Hassan II mosque, Interestingly for a country as liberal as Morocco, this is one of the very few mosques open to non-Muslims. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_II_Mosque) We had to visit, so, the next day we set off with a Spanish gentleman, also was also staying in the campground. We were some forty minutes south of the mosque, so we were happy to let the taxi navigate the endless roundabouts and swirling traffic. We had not pre-booked tickets but were able to walk right in. 

The tours all split up into different languages. The English speaking group was huge so we opted for the Spanish speaking group. It seemed like a better idea, and it proved to be an excellent one.  We had a super guide who spoke at length on what it means to be a Moslem in Morocco, discussed the roles of both men and women in the mosque, and generally covered how the mosque fits into daily life. He also gave information on the construction of the spectacular mosque. 

As with Judaism, Islam requires ritual washing before attending prayers. You may wash at home or at the mosque, which, in this case, has massive facilities.

By the time the tour finished it was lunch time.  We walked over to Rick’s Cafe thinking that although the actual movie was filmed in Hollywood, it would be fun to have a burger at Rick’s.  Once we got there we changed our minds.  There was an expensive, full French luncheon menu only. And lines of people waiting. This was one tourist trap we could miss.

So we set off in search of La Sqala, a Moroccan restaurant on the edge of the Medina, with an excellent reputation.  (https://sqala.ma/la-sqala-english/) Although the restaurant clearly caters to tourists, at least 50% of the diners were Moroccans. A good sign.

After lunch we flagged a petit taxi and set off looking for the Abderrahman Slaoui Museum museum. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abderrahman_Slaoui_Museum) The taxi driver was not heading were we wanted to go, but after getting approval to drop his other passenger first, we were off. “You’ll never find it otherwise.” As always, Moroccans go above and beyond. He then plunged into the souk. We were grateful that the taxi had no extra paint – it was narrow!

Our museum visit a bust, it was time for coffee, ice cream, and colonial architecture.

We returned to the mosque to await pick up.

Back at the campsite, we enjoyed a pick up tapas style dinner with our Spanish friend, complete with Kirkland artichoke hearts from Costco, Spain.

Our next destination was Marrakesh. If the movie put Casablanca on everyone’s mind, then the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song, “Marrakesh” did the same for Marrakesh.

Marrakesh, proved to be a much more manageable city by our standards. The campsite, north of the city, was pleasant.  We initially parked by our big brother, a huge Expo truck. 

The campsite booked us a taxi taking a maximum of six persons for 100 dirham (about $10 total) and we were off!.

We began by taking a one hour horse and carriage ride – a bit pricier than the taxi! This gave us a chance to orient ourselves a bit and we were dropped at the entrance to the souk.

We entered, started to wander, and saw a sign for coffee on a rooftop cafe restaurant. Perfect! We entered the ground floor doorway, looked right and saw an incredible carpet display. So we headed right and found ourselves in an amazing three story carpet warehouse with rugs of all shapes and sizes from all the carpet making areas.

Ibrahim, the manager/owner was wonderful and pulled out rugs from all over.  We looked at lots before deciding to think about it and heading upstairs to the roof for lunch.

This proved to be a wonderful place. Shady, with a charming young lady serving the excellent Moroccan food.  We had a lovely lunch and then returned downstairs to spend some money and to arrange to have the carpets shipped to DC. 

After lunch we stopped into a metal store to admire lamps. We noticed some interesting Judaica.

Morocco has always had a large Jewish population, especially after the “Reconquista” in 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabela began the serious expulsion of Moors and Jews from Spain. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconquista) After 1948 many Moroccan Jews emigrated to Israel. Today the Jewish population is low. The interrelationship between Morocco and Spain, and between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in this area is well beyond this blog and fills books. Let us just say that it is much deeper and more complex than many realize and covers everything from politics, to food, to religion, to music, to language, and beyond. (Almost any Spanish word that begins with the letter “a” comes from the Arabic. For example, “Azucar” comes from “Al Zukar.” The movie “El Cid” only begins to scratch the surface of this complex mix.

We went looking for the museum of Moroccan music. (https://museedelamusique.ma/en/) This was housed in an 18th century house deep in the souk.

The building was a fascinating maze, almost as interesting as the musical exhibits themselves. Narrow stairs led to wandering passages. Sadly, there was no live music during our visit.

We spent a little more time in the souk before heading back for our taxi pickup

During our second day, we visited Jemma el Fnaa, the main square, a UNESCO site and, frankly, a bit of an annoying tourist trap.

We REALLY do not like being accosted by touts or having money demanded by snake charmers. Pity, because otherwise, we would have sat down and enjoyed a show. We walked past the famous Koutoubia mosque, which is said to have been the model for the Alhambra, in Spain, and went back deep into the souk.

We purchased some slippers for a friend. After deep discussions of price, the shoe seller had a cousin lead us to the leather store to buy some purses for other friends.

We then headed for the same rooftop restaurant for another lunch! Just as good as the day before and the young lady seemed both surprised and genuinely happy to see us come back. We felt like old friends.

This time we simply returned to the campsite in a petit taxi, our own Marrakech Express. Much easier than trying to link up with a booked taxi.