ATW in 45. #36

Atw #36

Travel day. Though it seems every day is a travel day. Yesterday we were in the car four hours to and from the blue city.

Up at 730, meeting our guide at 9. Off to Casablanca or at least in that direction. We are making some stops to see the sights. Youssef says Casablanca has nothing to see except a cool new mosque. Though the movie Casablanca makes you want to go. The beach there is beautiful too. We are almost all ready to go. Just everyone to the bathroom and done.

Breakfast at Katerina’s cafe close to the port. An awesome place, out of the way, not patronized by tourists. We had four full breakfasts, cafe au lait x3, americano, cappuccino, fresh squeezed OJ, the works. Cost $12 with tip. Retire here folks. It’s beautiful and cheap as hell. But keep ur money in US dollars.

We are off on the road to Morocco. Which is the name of a Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road movie from long ago. Actually we are stopping in Rabat on the way to Casablanca. More to see in

The drive for the last hour has been quiet and calm. The Moroccan interstate looks exactly like California. So does the scenery. Half way around the world to come to a place like home. Strange.

I fell asleep for about 70k. We have reached Rabat. A reasonably modern city on the Atlantic. Great news, being on the ocean gives it a temperate climate. Today about 75 dog with a cooling breeze. Very comfortable.

There is a tremendous amount of new construction here, much like in Tangiers. The King is modernizing the whole country.

We visited the mausoleum of Hassan II which is on the grounds of a 12th century mosque. His son Mohammad V and his brother are buried there as well. Guarded by the Roayal Guard. Off point , just driving by the beach and there are people surfing!! So, the Royal Guard is all in white with voluminous white pantaloons, on horseback, with pointed staffs topped by battle flags. Impressive. We were there for the changing of the guard. Informal compared to England.

The mosque tower was closed. Too many people went up and jumped. Really.

We toured the grounds of the royal palace after the mausoleum. The King is not in residence at the moment. The palace grounds are gigantic. Covered by beautiful landscape and trees that are obvs trimmed very regularly. It’s good to be King. Always

Time for lunch. Rather than find a fine lunch place we opted to guides choice. Bad idea. Over priced and not very good and bad service. Just to slap us in the face, they added a service charge. Next time we choose for ourselves.

After lunch we had an incredibly long drive to Casablanca and the Hotel Rio. Not a 4 star hotel. Hell, not a three star. Actually, Casablanca, I noted on the drive in, is thoroughly unimpressive. It’s dismal, dirty, and ugly. Probably why our guide said there is not much to see here. He is probably right. It’s the largest city in Morocco and I am amazed by that tidbit.

So after sitting around the hotel here for awhile I came to the conclusion we should never have bothered coming to Casablanca. Oh well. So what’s to do? Well, I called the hotel in Fes and got tomorrow night added to our reservation and dropped the last night. Then I added a night in Gibralter on the 25th. Problem solved. And it cost no extra $$. And we can exit this dismal damn place. Largest city? WTH?

We spent the next 30 minutes figuring out where to go for dinner. I picked 4 spots and shared them with the gang. We picked one and got a cab. Turns out, made a fine choice. The dinner was well above usual Moroccan standards of service and food quality. Which ain’t saying a lot. But, excellent food and service. We even had dessert. The restaurant was in a courtyard on the edge of Medina. There were cats roaming through the dining room getting food from the diners. Go figure. It was fun. Food was traditional Moroccan and really good.

We headed home after dinner. We called a cab because this town is damn scary in the daylight not just at night. I can’t wait to get the hell outta here.