On Day 2, our tour group started in Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco and the economic centre of the country, with almost 4 million people.
First, it was the Casablanca medina, which was very quiet, not because it was a Sunday, but because it was during the
Muslim festival of Eid. Our tour guide Majitte told us Muslims are forbidden from drinking, but there's nothing against copious marijuana consumption.
Next, we visited Mohammed V Square, recognizing the Moroccan king who was a key figure in the struggle for Moroccan independence from the French protectorate,
which happened in 1956. He was King from 1957 until his death in 1961.
Finally, we visited the magnificent Hassan II Mosque on the waterfront, built 1986-1993 and named after Mohammed V's son, Hassan II who was king from 1961 until 1999.
We then bused along the Atlantic coast to the capital of Morocco, Rabat, a city of almost 2 million people. We looked at the Imperial Palace where government business takes place,
but did not enter ... all the royal palaces across the country do not allow visitors. Next, we
visited the Hassan Tower, built at the end of the 12th century, and then the Kasbah of the Udayas, a 12th century fortress. Then it was to the hotel, dinner and bedtime.
|
Above: The streets of Casablanca, quite empty as citizens recover and sleep in from Eid the night before.
1 and 2 show breakfast at the hotel and our tour guide Majitte.
4 and 5 is the Catholic Casablanca Cathedral or Église du Sacré-Cœur, church of the Sacred Heart.
7 and 8 is a government building in Casablanca.
9 to 11 show our walk in the Casablanca Medina (market), pretty much empty due to the previous night Eid celebration.
|
|
|