Adventures with Julia

June 12, 2019

View from Four Seasons Hotel room

We arrived in Casablanca to perfect weather.  70 degrees and a light breeze. We were looking forward to settling into the hotel and relaxing.  But, It took what seemed like forever to get through immigration – more than an hour in a 15 row switchback line.  Then our driver did not show up.  After another half hour wait, we grabbed a cab for the 15 kilometer, 40 minute ride to the hotel in dense traffic.   It was mid afternoon when we finally arrived at the Four Seasons.  Walking into our room was a heavenly experience after being on the road for 24 hours.  I forgot all about the hassle getting there.  Our room fronted directly on the Atlantic Ocean with full accompaniment of the crashing surf.  I loved it.

Camels rides for sale on the beach

The beach scene.

Casablanca Light House and beach.

After a couple of hours we walked along the beach to a pizza and pasta eatery.  Had our fill of comfort food and were in bed by 8pm.

We spent a good bit of the next day in the room relaxing, listening to the serf and reading.  Mid morning, we did take a taxi to the Hassan II Mosque to see it again.  Mark remembered that it was brand new when we first saw it, so it had to have been in 1994 or 1995, as the place was finished in 1993.  I remembered it being huge and huge it still is.  It is the third  largest mosque in the world behind Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, which we have not seen. It does possess the world’s tallest minaret – 60 stories.

Panorama of Hussan II Moaque

The tallest minaret in the world – 60 stories.

Inside the mosque showing the ceiling that can be slid open

Panorama of the inside of the mosque.

The ablutions hall underneath the mosque

A muslim family having fun at an outdoor ablution fountain.

We took the tour of the facility and learned the open square will hold 80,000 people.   Inside the mosque there is room for 20,000 men on the main floor and 5,000 women in the balcony.  It has a large retractable roof on the main level to allow air circulation during large gatherings.  The room for ablutions takes up the entire floor underneath the mosque.  The facility cost about 600 million Euro and took 7 years to build, with 12 million people donating.   It was built on the ocean at the order Hassan II because, he said:  “I wish Casablanca to be endowed with a large, fine building of which it can be proud until the end of time… I want to build this mosque on the water because God’s throne is on the water.  Therefore, the faithful who go there to pray, to praise the creator on firm soil, can contemplate God’s sky and ocean.”    It is quite a spectacular place.

Turns out Casablanca at 9,000,000 people is quite a large low-rise city requiring more taxis to get around, so we took another taxi to the new Medina in the down town.

A colorful dress for sale.

A food vendor hamming it up Sith Mark and another customer

Shops in the new medina

Olives galore

Miscellaneous items for sale

It is much more open and clean than the old Medina we remembered, but the goods being sold are still cheap and unappealing.  After walking a few streets and taking some images, we stopped at an outdoor cafe to get drinks and a bite.  They only had cheese panini, so we each ordered one and choked it down.  The drinks were better.  I had an orange-apple drink that was quite tasty.  We people watched awhile then took another cab to the heart of the city to see old French style buildings and shops.  We must have missed something, because the area was not appealing as far as we could see.  One last cab took us back to the hotel.  It was still mid afternoon so we went for a long walk on the beach and then settled in for a nap before going to dinner at a place on the beach called Le Pilotis.  We thoroughly enjoyed the oysters, octopus and Sea Bass we shared.  And we each had an adult beverage.  The hotel does not serve alcohol because it is near a mosque and not allowed.  Oh well, we liked the hotel so much, we would stay there anyway.