Casablanca

 As a kid growing up, I always thought Casablanca was just a romantic movie from a long time ago. I never even realized it was a  place in Africa. And it’s not like I ever saw the movie either; still haven’t. Well yesterday, after the car ride to drop my roommate off to the airport, my coordinator and another volunteer headed back to Rabat while I hopped on the train to Casa Port, the ONCF train stop closest to the major sites in Casablanca. 

I got there just in time to catch the 9:50 AM train and arrived at Casa Port, a bustling train station flowing with commuters, an hour later. I helped a lady with her bags who thought I spoke French as I said just enough to be convincing or maybe I didn’t say enough to not be convincing. Probably the latter! I definitely heard more French spoken here than in the Medina area where I stay in Rabat. 

I made the 25 minute walk up the road to Hassan II Mosque. It’s visible for most of the walk up the incline from the train with the beautiful coastline and ocean breeze coming from the right. From a distance the structure was immaculate with intricate carvings, arches, and green highlights in the design, only accentuated by the blue sky.

Important Note: This is the only mosque in Rabat open to non-Muslim visitors in Morocco and there are even guided tours offered in multiple languages which really cater to guests. During prayer & worship times the mosque does close to visitors though. 

There is a museum adjacent to the mosque that covers the history of the art and explains the materials and tools used to carve.  After removing shoes to enter the mosque was got an entertaining multilingual tour guide. He explained that the entire mosque was built in 6 years starting in the mid-late 1980’s and all the materials are from various parts of Morocco! 

While on the tour I spotted a group that reminded me of home. Lots of long box braids, goddess locks, laid edges all wearing traditional Arab women’s garb. The outfits didn’t fool me! So I asked where they were from and lo and behold, also out of Atlanta it was the lovely ladies of Spelman College touring Morocco together on a summer trip. It’s a small world! I told them I was from the same place and I chatted a bit with a couple of them. At the end of the tour, I said goodbye and snapped a discreet pic as they gathered for a group photo. 

For lunch I dined at La Sqala, a very classy restaurant featuring Moroccan cuisine. Lots of tourists and probably sophisticated locals were dining there in the beautiful patio seating.  It’s always sad how the more high-end places give smaller cups with less smoothie in them. I hadn’t eaten all day by the time I arrived around 1:30PM, so you know I had to order a smoothie before my meal. 

After lunch I swung by the Marina  mall for some window shopping. It was a classy mall with a beautiful pharmacy. I needed some vitamin C as the cool ocean breeze was starting to make my throat feel a bit off. 

I got back to the train station just in time to wait in a long line for a ticket back to Rabat Ville at 4:10 PM. The train was a little late, which was perfect, because I was actually standing on the wrong platform for about five minutes before I realized! Many of the signs at the station were in Arabic or French so I didn’t realize that the “2” on my ticket was not for the platform but the class, of my ticket! 

I was back in Rabat around 5:30 PM and decided to walk the route from the train back to the main square of the Medina! It took about 15 minutes, good practice for learning the route I'll take Thusday morning. At 7:30AM, I’ll be back at Rabat Ville train station with all my luggage to begin the last leg of my trip in Marrakech!