Casablanca!! Last weekend in June

Why not?  A quick look at a map as we were planning our adventure and we were surprised as to how close we would be to the Northern Africa coast.

Then, we learned that we would have the ultimate baby-sitter with Grandma coming to visit = weekend away as a couple for Matt and Heather.  Why not the Hollywood glamorized city of Casablanca, Morocco.  We did put the movie on Heather's laptop and watched it in the airport.

Our flight on Friday was delayed and we did not arrive until well after 10:00 pm and a 45 minute cab-ride to the hotel.  We honestly did no preparing for this leg of the trip until the day of... -- leaving us with a blank sheet of paper with no expectations.  The one thing that was a surprise was just the experience of being in a Muslim country.  To go from a Spanish beach where clothing is optional; to a country where the woman are covered from head-to-toe was a bit overwhelming.

Out of respect, Heather did make some additions to her wardrobe to allow for long skirts and scarves --- but always a nice accessory.  

The first night, we had a great meal at our hotel restaurant -- Beef Tenderloin -- YUM!

The next morning, our view did not disappoint --

yes, that is the Atlantic Ocean and waves of people -- almost all men -- as the woman would be under the umbrellas and generally fully clad. We were told not to go on the beach so we stayed at the hotel pool to get sun. 

Breakfast was included and the buffet was amazing at the hotel.  Fruit, figs, dates, jams, meats and cheeses. We did not even realize that that was also a custom omelette station until the second day.  

Following breakfast, off we went to walk the City.  The main attraction was the third largest mosque in the world -- Hassan II.  We decided to walk to get a feel for the City.  It was a longer than expected, but very interesting.  We passed through some very poor areas of town that we would definitely avoid at night.  No problems though as Heather kept her scarf in place and we simply avoided eye contact with others out of caution.  

The trip was well rewarded -- we were in AWE over the immensity of the mosque.

Heather inside the mosque with shoes off and scarf on

This was the view as we approached

25,000 people can worship inside the building and over 100,000 could worship in the general vicinity of the surrounding area -- with loud speakers everywhere.  

After this experience, we decided to revert to our tourist ways and took a cab-ride to "Rick's Cafe" -- a replica of the gin joint made famous by the movie -- recall the Humphrey Bogart line -- "Of all the gins joints, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."  Again, the food was spectacular and the service extremely attentive.

Following a few taxi snafus we made it to our next destination-- we just wanted a cab driver to drive us by a few sites on the way to one of the markets -- the cabs go "off meter" so you never know whether you are getting a fair fare.  You need to ask in advance.  Well, every cab driver wanted to give us a 2 hour tour of the city and charge some crazy price.  We literally just walked out of one cab as he was getting a little "agitated."  All went well though and we arrived at our intended destination, the "local" market Habous.

This place was crazy and definitely felt third world.  No running water or bathrooms and a different world from the structure that you find in a European Country.  Great deals though and something we will remember forever as putting the Mall of America to shame as a destination shopping experience.

Ended the day with ANOTHER great meal at a traditional Moroccan Restaurant.  Matt had the the best lamb ever!

A little sun by the hotel pool before we left.

Great side trip to expose us to a really different, but exotic world.  Overall, probably our best dining experience on the trip.