Morocco

Dan, Andrew, Sean, Patrick, and I spent Wednesday, February 11th through Wednesday, February 18th travelling to and through Morocco. The impetus for the trip was incredibly cheap airfare Pat found ($160 per person, round trip). See the Wikipedia entry here for some of the basics on Morocco, including it's currency (dirham), capital (Rabat) and cuisine.

Our trip led us from Casablanca, south to Marrakesh, east through Atlas mountains and the Sahara beyond, back to Marrakesh, north to Rabat, and back to Casablanca. We rarely slept more than 5 hours, never stayed in the same hotel (or city) for two consecutive nights, and experienced Morocco as much as we could in 6 days.

I definitely recommend Morocco for people thinking of travelling to North Africa. Keep in mind, we did it cheap. Also, we missed Tangiers and Fez, which are supposed to be two of the most impressive cities in Morocco. Well-healed travelers could enjoy fine dining, luxury accommodations, and impressive beaches (especially along Morocco's Mediterranean coast) if they were so inclined. I enjoyed roughing it.

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009: Rabat, Casablanca, and the Trip Home

Wednesday morning we left Rabat at 7 am on our way to Casa. Our plan was to catch a half-hour tour of the Hassan II Mosque at 9:30 before our flight at 12:30. We made the mosque tour after the hour-long train ride, but not all of us would end up making the flight. The tour, my first time in a mosque, was excellent. In mosques you cannot wear shoes but are given booties similar to those provide by TSA at airport security checkpoints. It took six years of work, day and night, for the building to be completed. It was made almost exclusively from Moroccan materials. For a more complete review than I could possibly provide, see the wikipedia entry here.

After we left the mosque, things got interesting. First, we couldn't find a cab large enough to take us to the airport. In Casa there are white cabs and red, "petit" cabs. The petit cabs can only operate within city limits and unfortunately for us, the large white cabs do not drive by the mosque. After waiting for several minutes, we decided to take cabs to the train station where we know white cabs look for fares. Since the five of us could not fit in one petit cab with all of our luggage, we split up.

Sean, Dan, and Andrew got in the first cab while Patrick and I got in a second cab which arrived several minutes later. When Pat and I arrived at the train station, the other three were not there. We waited for over five minutes, figured they had already left and got in a white cab. At this point it was around 10:40. On the way to the airport I checked the flight status using my blackberry, only to discover the flight was at 12:05, not 12:30.

Patrick and I arrived at 11:15, got checked in and through security. It turns out our compadres had somehow arrived at the train station after we did, had briefly waited and then departed. They arrived at the airport at 11:30 and were not allowed to check in by the Iberia air staff, despite the flight's posted delay of half an hour. They had to wait in Casablanca two days before catching another flight. The fee they had to pay, 125 euros, was more than we paid for our entire tickets. Bummer city.

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009: Rabat, Morocco

Monday was a travel day. The most eventful part of the day was waking up the morning to find six of the camels had escaped. We rode our remaining camels back to the compound, with some people doubling up and some walking. The saddles were very uncomfortable with only one person, much less two. We then drove roughly 8 hours to Marrakesh.

In Marrakesh we stayed at a riad run by some Germans. It was a little more expensive than our previous lodgings, but a hot shower (the first in a three days for most of us) was great. We got to bed early that night and left for the train station at 6 am.

At 7 we got on a train to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Rabat is on the northern part of Morocco's Atlantic coast. The train station is roughly in the center of the city, about a mile off the coast. We ate lunch at a cafe near the station and found a hotel just down the main drag, named after Morocco's beloved former king Mohammed V. After finding the hotel we walked towards the sea. On the way we walked through the market, a much more Western version of the market in Marrakesh. All the knock-off staples were being sold: fake sunglasses, hand bags, clothing, and watches. I assume this is due to its proximity to the sea.

After the market we stumbled into an expansive cemetery overlooking the sea. The graves were mostly above ground, in cement boxes. These boxes were presumably tailored to fit the size of the individual, many were small. Almost all of them doubled as flower beds, with a thin layer of soil on top.

The beach beyond the cemetery was very interesting. There were small pools with shells and occasionally fish leading up to the ocean. A gentleman with the longest on-shore fishing pole I have ever seen was trying his luck a hundred yards away from a group of boogie-boarders. As we walked up the beach it eventually turned into sand, but there were no girls in bikinis.

We then entered an old castle at the mouth of a river. Beyond the castle a mile or so was the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. In addition to the Mausoleum itself, with the tombs of Mohammed V and his sons (including Hassan II), the grounds included the tower of an unfinished mosque and the pillars that supported the building. After the Mausoleum, we split up. Patrick went for a walk around the market while the rest of us caught a cab to Chellah, an old Roman and Carthaginian necropolis on the outskirts of the city. The area was littered with storks, but was otherwise a nice break from the honking cars and exhaust of the city.

That night we drank beers, walked through the market, and eventually grabbed dinner at a Moroccan diner.