Rabat to Moulay Idriss

Posted on December 23, 2019 by borysSNORC

Got up bright and early – well actually it wasn’t actually bright, it doesn’t really get bright here until about 0830 at the moment so it was ‘got up dark and early’ – this morning to pack our bags, grab a quick breakfast and hit the road. We had a short ride in a private minibus to the Casablanca train station where we were heading to Rabat. The plan was to spend the day in Rabat before grabbing a late lunch and then back to the train station to move on towards Mendes this afternoon.

Oddly enough, things went smoothly. Mr K and I had bets on which group members would be the lollygaggers holding everyone up and we were both wrong! Everyone was prompt and on time and it felt like our leader, Samirr was the one holding us up.

We made it to Rabat around 10:00 and stashed all our luggage in a storage room in a nearby restaurant so we could all head off and explore the city. Armed with a seriously dodgy map – you know the kind they make for tourists with little pictures on it and no scale so you have no idea how far away things are – we set out with a little too little information and a little too much optimism.

For no sooner had we gotten about a km from all our things, it began to lightly drizzle. Ho hum, so much for checking the weather report before we left! I thanked past me for NOT throwing out those purple leather sneakers in Berlin (like I promised myself I would) and we just kept on wandering down through the marketplaces towards the Rabat Casbah… aka the Kasbah of the Udayas.

The Casbah/Kasbah (it’s a tomayto/tomarto thing) is located at the mouth of the Bou Regreg river opposite Salé. The Kasbah is an 11th century fort with an incredibly long history that I won’t bore you with (go Google it if you are interested), but it remains an incredibly popular place to go check out the local history, as well as to get good views of the Bou Regreg, the Sale and the Atlantic Ocean. It is also known for its beautiful blue and white walled winding streets, and the Andalusian Gardens.

It was a very cute part of Rabat to go wandering through – it has approximately 3000 residents currently, and possibly about 500 cats judging by what we saw today. They’re everywhere, and all very well fed and happy looking critters.

t was a very cute part of Rabat to go wandering through – it has approximately 3000 residents currently, and possibly about 500 cats judging by what we saw today. They’re everywhere, and all very well fed and happy looking critters. Andalusian Gardens

After the Kasbah, we went for a walk first through some markets and then along the river to find the Mausoleum of Mohammed V which is located directly opposite the Hassan Tower. The mausoleum contains the tombs of King Hassan II and two of his sons. The building is an example of the modern Alauouite dynasty architecture, having been built in 1971. The late Hassan II was interred there after his death in 1999.

The Hasssan Tower which is directly opposite the mausoleum is actually the unfinished minaret of a mosque that was intended to be built in Rabat during the third Caliphate of Almohad in 1195. The tower was planned to be the tallest/largest minaret in the world, along with an enormous mosque which was supposed to contemporarily be the largest mosque in the world, (what is it with the male preoccupation with size, Mr Ismay? Are you familiar with the works of Mr Freud?), however, when Abu Yusuf al-Mansur died barely four years later in 1199, construction on the mosque ceased. The tower, which was supposed to be some 86m tall only made it to 44m before the construction was abandoned. All that remains today are the tower and the beginnings of some walls, and some 348 columns that were part way through being constructed.

By this point of our day, I was getting a little WTF? As mentioned earlier, our dodgy tourist map hadn’t really laid out for us how far apart things were, and I had inadvertently been walking about 9kms on shitty uneven cobblestones for nearly three hours and my hips and lower back were getting decidedly unhappy with me. So we decided to take a local tram to find St Peter’s Cathedral which is located at Golan Square right in downtown Rabat. It was only built in 1919 and is in a rather bland Art Deco style… I know – I am decidedly hard to impress when it comes to churches and architecture, and this one left very little impression on me. It was designed by someone called Adrien Laforgue… and quite frankly Adrien, I feel you let us all down. When you have the sort of dish that the Catholic Church is prepared to throw at a thing like a new cathedral, you really should have been able to come up with something a bit more … well, just a bit more?!

After the briefest of visits to the church, we head back down to the cafe where our bags were stashed to find the rest of our tour group had pretty much beaten us back. It seems they made it to the Kasbah (we kept running into several of them there) none of them bothered to go check out the mausoleum, the Hassan Tower or the St. Peter’s Cathedral… :/ when did we become the eager beaver, see all the things, tourists??? Oh well, will have to moderate our sightseeing in future because my fucking feet and hips were seriously not happy, Jan.

Anyway, we had a bit of lunch, which cleverly we had all ordered before we left for our walk, and made our way back to the train station. There we caught a train to Mendes – about 2hrs 45mins from Rabat. The train was clean and comfy, though the locals had a really shitty and fluid relationship to seat numbers, and we had to boot someone out of some of our allocated seats. Whipping through the countryside was amazing… I have always associated Morocco with a desert landscape, and it is (in parts), but after having travelled quite a bit these last few months domestically in Australia through some of the most crunchy-looking, dusty, dry and dirty brown landscapes, I was not prepared for how lush and green the Moroccan countryside is. It’s positively gorgeous. Which makes me very sad for home right now, knowing that half the eastern seaboard is on fire. :’(

Anyway, we arrived Mendes and here, we picked up some local taxis to take us to the town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun. The town is spread over two hills at the base of Mount Zerhoun (elevation is about 500m), and is considered a holy town by the Moroccan people. The town was started here in 789 by Moulay Idriss I who Brough Islam wit him and started a dynasty. He also was the founder of the town of Fez (that will be tomorrow’s trick).

The town is quite small and compact, having about 1000 residents living in its winding narrow streets. The entire town itself feels like a Medina (old medieval part of a modern town), and has sections of it that are considered sacred to Muslims such that non-Muslims may not enter. We are staying in a guesthouse here for just one night, and the walk up to the place was incredibly hard considering I had already completely overdone it for one day.

Once we were here, I had to pull the pin on going for a walk around the town to see the buildings, the bakery, the mosque etc… instead Mr K took a pile of photos of me – primarily of the town at sunset – so that I wouldn’t get the total FOMOs. I had to kick off my shoes and rest my lower back, which totally sucks! Thankfully this seem to be one of the longest and most intense days on our itinerary, so it should get a bit easier from here.

After the walking tour of town and the sunset had been seen – our hosts made us the most delicious traditional Moroccan feast made of all local dishes and it was amazing! There was locally made flat-ish bread, a meatball and egg Tagline dish, some curried chicken, a vegetable couscous dish, plus fresh single pressed olive oil from nearby fields, and homemade chilli past to spice it all up. So much yum, and all so healthy with no preservatives and no sugary crap hiding in your food! Makes me feel like a dreadful failure for neglecting my Emile Henry Tagine all these years… will have to rectify that when I get home!

After such a bloody long day, I am enjoying this heat pack as I write this up a little too much and can feel myself yawning like mad even though it’s not yet 22:00. We don’t have a particularly early start tomorrow, but I have a feeling it’s going to be early to bed tonight as I am ready to crash!

Tomorrow a short tour of Mendes, and then onward to Fez… where I will have to try my hardest to STOP Mr K from deciding he needs to buy a fez in Fez. *insert rolling of eyes here*

Casablanca – the Quickie Tour

Posted on December 22, 2019 by borysSNORC

Work done, we finally had some time to have a poke around Casablanca’s favourite tourist spots… And we started off in Mohammed V Square. Considered Casablanca’s ‘Times Square’, it is a public square of historical and symbolic significance located in the very centre of the city. It was established in 1916 at the beginning of the period of French colonial era and the square is known officially named in honour of the former King of Morocco, Mohammed V – grandfather of the current King Mohammed VI. The square is also known as “Pigeon Square” due to the huge population of big fat happy pigeons – the locals like to come here and sit by the (currently empty fountains), play with their children and feed the pigeons… though why anyone would encourage an enormous population of winged rats to congregate in their main square, is beyond me.

The Square is lined with the Courthouse, Post Office and State House which lent significant legitimacy to the French colonial rule at the time. It is also filled with hawkers and touts selling toys for children, pigeon feed, water, tissues and all sorts. This guy in traditional costume (below) was carrying a goatskin of water that you could drink from one of his brass cups or just pay him to take some photos of his interesting outfit.

Directly opposite the square is the completely incongruous and thoroughly modern Opera House. Interesting building, but it very much feels like it doesn’t belong here at all.

From the Mohammed V Square, we made our way to the Casablanca’s Notre Dame church, which was built in a European modernist style of architecture in 1956. Looking somewhat like a an ugly library from the outside, the church is famous for its elongated concrete entrance and the enormous stained-glass windows, which were designed by a French artist Gabriel Loire, that run down the entire length of the church. It also has incredible acoustics so it’s known for holding concerts etc.

Interesting we learned that the Catholic church runs many social programs for the homeless, for children, and for women. The local Christian community is quite proud of this, and like to compare themselves to the local Muslim and Jewish communities who have no similar programs at all.

A trip around Casablanca wouldn’t be complete without a pit stop at the famous ‘Rick’s Cafe’, which was made famous by the 1942 movie, Casablanca, which was filmed entirely in California and doesn’t have a single Moroccan in it, but you know, you gotta at least go past… *shrug*. Not being huge fans – We came, we saw, we bawked at the prices on the totally touristy cocktail list, and we moved on.

Not far down the road was a far more interesting stop – the famous Hassan II Mosque. Which is the largest mosque in Africa, and the 3rd largest mosque in the entire world. It has a singular minaret (minaret number is apparently a cultural affectation and in Morocco, mosques have only one) that is the world’s second tallest minaret standing 210 metres tall (689 ft in the old money). The 60 stories high minaret is topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. It was built relatively recently in 1993, and took 12,500 workers a mere six years to complete. Apparently it was started in 1986, and was supposed to be completed in time for Hussan II’s 60th birthday – during the most intense period of construction, 1400 men worked during the day and another 1100 men worked through the night attempting to make the schedule. Over 10,000 artists and craftsmen worked simultaneously inside the building on the handcrafted carving and mosiacs etc, to beautify the mosque.

It was not apparently completed on time for the birthday celebrations and instead was inaugurated on 30 August 1993 – which is the 11th Rabi’ al-Awwal of the year 1414 of the Hijra, which also marks the eve of the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s birth.

Outside, there are beautiful mosaic fountains ring the forecourt where worshippers can perform their ablutions prior to prayer.

It’s hard to see the scale of this building but it’s enormous… think St Peter’s in Rome for similar, but all contained in one open space.

The mosque stands on a promontory (some of which is reclaimed land) looking out to the Atlantic Ocean. Worshippers can pray in sections out over the sea.

The cost of building the mosque was a whopping 585 million euro, which as you can imagine was a fairly contentious issue in Morocco, being a lower to middlle income country. The King wanted to build a mosque which would be second in size only to the mosque at Mecca, but the government could not fund such an elaborate and grand project. Much of the finance to complete the project came from public donations. Over 12 million individuals donated to build the mosque and each was issued with a receipt and certificate given to every donor – even if they contributed a mere 5 MAD.

The building is made almost entirely of Moroccan materials – local marble, granite from the Atlas Mountains and local timbers. The walls are of hand-crafted entirely of marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside ground in the forecourt.

Mosaic design running up an enormous wall.

The walls are lavishly decorated in mosaic tile designs and the ceiling of carved, hand-painted cedar from the Atlas mountains.

The size of this hall is hard to depict, but I think you could easily fit about six basketball courts into this hall, end to end.

Below the enormous hall are ablutions rooms for worshippers, with large marble fountains where they can perform their ritual cleansing prior to prayer. The numerous marble fountains are not running all the time to conserve water (the water used for the fountains is freshwater pumped from the mountains). Around the room instead, are several mosaic fountains that can be used when these ones are not running.

After spending an hour or so marvelling at the enormity of the Hassan II Mosque, (and wondering how long such a hastily built edifice may stand), we made our way to the Corniche – or the Casablanca pier. Famous for the beach resorts, restaurants and nightlife, the Corniche attracts people from all over Europe in the summertime. Currently, it’s nice and quiet given it’s almost the middle of winter.

Casablanca’s famous beaches are lined with resorts, where patrons can pay to hire a cabana and enjoy some sun and, presumably, someone to run around fetching them umbrella drinks.

The Tropicana Beach Resort is one of the more popular and expensive beach resorts on the strip, with a lovely restaurant, larger thatched cabanas and (what looks to this Aussie, like) access to a rather ordinary beach full of rocky outcrops and a rather angry and murky looking Atlantic Ocean. Not sure I can see the appeal of spending time here on your summer vacation, but we have to admit, Australians are somewhat spoiled on the beach thing…

Afterwards, we made our way back into the city to meet up with a tour group. Tomorrow we are off to explore Morocco with a bunch of strangers… we haven’t done an organised tour group thing for many years and I’m not sure how it will go. We did China in 2015 on a predominantly private tour, but I haven’t done this since Turkey in 2007. The group is comprised of only one other Aussie couple, two young women from London, four Californians, and some solo guys from Switzerland, Quebec and South Africa. They seem like a nice enough bunch.

Morocco Bound

Posted on December 20, 2019 by borysSNORC

It’s been a long and fairly difficult year on several fronts… and an even longer and more difficult last month or so. So Mr K and I decided we should ‘do something’ for a bit of a break at the end of the year. Given he’s got work coming up in Qatar on electric buses and we half expected to be in Qatar for work, come Xmas, we decided to look for something to do in the region and were tossing up between Egypt or Morocco as a suitable destination. In the end, we chose Morocco – largely because Casablanca has the largest electric bus fleet in North Africa and we could combine our break with a bit of useful investigative work that will help next year. Doesn’t everyone choose their Christmas destination based on where the largest electric bus operators reside?

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, we booked and got things sorted and, as per usual, I read and booked and understood the transit arrangments, but also as per usual, I completely forgot how much I absolutely hate the long haul transits. We had a 14 hour flight from Brisbane to Dubai, followed by a 2 hour lay over there, and an onward 8 hour flight to Casablanca. Urgh… my back pain was through the roof and my feet were killing me. :/ Grrr… really need to break these trips up (I keep saying that, and I keep forgetting when booking shit).

We arrived in Casablanca about 1pm local and had to wade through customs and the usual. Because I thought I might be arriving solo (given the high probability that Mr K would be coming from Qatar), I had arranged an airport transfer… usually we would just use public transport or haggle with cabbies when we got here. Our driver swiftly reminded us that we weren’t in Kansas anymore by driving like a Turk – all over the road, no indicators from him (or anyone else), braking short all the time and weaving in and out of the traffic. All he needed was a cigarette and one hand on his mobile phone and it would have taken me back to 2007.

When we got here and checked into the Hotel Almouday, I was absolutely shattered and REALLY need to get my poor feets in the air. So Mr K went out hunting and gathering looking for SIM cards, water and to sus out the local area while I tried hard not to fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon… with varying levels of success. Eventually, we caved and had some little pizzas for dinner (loaded with anchovies – yum!) around 7pm and then crashed. I managed to sleep until around 2am and even managed to get back to sleep until around 6am… exhausted after the last few months much? Ahuh.

Today is Friday … buses, buses, buses. Maybe we will see some of Casablanca by Sunday.