Casablanca through pictures

Continuation from the post 'where am i now?'. Flying into Morocco. First stop - Casablanca.

We met up with our other half of the group at Madrid airport. Luckily their flight wasn't canceled. Bought some Napolitana on our way to the airport to be shared.

When we touched down at Casablanca airport. There wasn't any tourist information counter but only 1 person handing out the map of Casablanca at the end of the escalator. Further story about the taxi ride from the airport to our hostel can be found in my previous entry.

Dinner

We wanted to order couscous or tangine at this restaurant but weird enough, they said couscous was only served on a Friday which was the next day. In the end, we had a mixture of soup and baguettes. Not bad but could have been better. There was lack of proper tissue paper and brown paper was provided instead. The cash machine was one of the most antique still in use that I've seen.

Dessert - gelato and small biscuits. One of the flavour of the gelato, I think it was the pistachio one tasted like cough syrup. The biscuits were not bad but while we were crowding outside of the gelato shop, one beggar came so near to us with his hands outreached. So, I quickly handed him one of the biscuits and ran away. So scary.

A, as usual, since the trip to Lyon, craved for KFC and we got a treat from him after successfully spotting a branch while we were exploring the place. Finally, somewhere other than home that had the spicy flavour.

Next morning

Moroccan time is something like Malaysian time. It can stretch. We were told that breakfast would be served from 7am. We waited for 30 minutes before we could see life in the kitchen area. But no complains from me. The dining area was beautifully decorated and breakfast was an unlimited supply of 3 kinds of bread, one which tasted and looked like roti canai served with butter and jam. The mint tea was a standard and the coffee was not bad at all.

Happier people after the food was served

We packed all our belongings and headed off to the famous Hassan II Mosque on foot before catching a taxi to the train station.

This is the only mosque in Morocco that non-Muslim can visit and it was really beautiful. Too bad we didn't have time to visit the interior plus it was a Friday.

Final group picture before we set off in 2s and 3s in the petite taxi to Casa Voyager train station.

Our taxi driver wasn't too bad. At least he followed the meter. But he did take advantage of us not understanding what he was saying and made a few extra turns around the city. I somehow understood his hand gesture asking if we would like his to drive around so that we could see most of the city, but well, being in Morocco, one thing you'll have to learn is to be prepared to get cheated and witness a few daylight robberies. At least we got there on time and didn't have to waste energy arguing. My friends who were in another taxi was asked to pay a whole lot more during the ride and they had to wait till they reached the train station before bargaining. I don't think I would be able to get used to the rough culture. Getting too pampered here where consumer's rights are so protected.

Next stop: Fes - palace, medina, the start of the annoying Konnichiwa greetings, snails