Casablanca, Morocco

Huge Mosque

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So I arrived in Casablanca after 3 months in Europe.  I was wiped and it was quite a culture shock coming from Europe to a third world country like Morocco.  I stayed in a Riad, which is sort of like a B&B.  You basically rent a room in someone's house.  Its a nice transition from hostels and hotels because it feels a bit more like home and less impersonal.

Unlike Europe, streets in Morocco do not have street signs.  So as you can imagine its VERY hard to figure out where you are going.  You have no choice but to ask locas, who are quite friendly but who only speak Arabic and sometimes French.  Since I speak neither this makes for a lively conversation!  Even the cabbie from the airport didnt know where my Riad was only the general vicinity.  So he dropped me off at an intersection and it was up to me to figure it out.  I did after walking for about a half hour in a variety of directions, luggage in tow.

Cute street in the Medina

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I arrived in Casablanca as Ramadan ended so everything was still closed my first night.  The second day I walked all over the city and saw their BIG mosque.  Its not Vatican big, but it is very very big and beautiful too.  I also walked by their lighthouse and an old castle built too close to the beach.

Its quite hot in Morocco as one would expect... but what you don't realize is how hot it is in long pants!  Yup, as a Muslim country, long pants are the rule unless you want to stand out and possibly offend.  Since I don't, I wore long pants throughout my stay in Morocco... whew... at least I sweated off a few lbs!

At the Riad they served a breakfast and since I was the only one in the place, it was all for me ;-)  However they certainly didnt limit the amount of food.  I could have had my three closest friends over and still had food left over!  And they seemed shocked when I didnt eat more.  So funny!  Now if only it was sushi...  ah dreams...