4-2 Casablanca

It’s the final day of the tour and I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I hate to see all this fun coming to an end, but on the other hand I am just about pooped out and ready to go home. I have seen some incredible sights, experienced some unforgettable adventures, made new friends, and learned about a part of the world I knew almost nothing about. So far this trip scores an A+.

I say so far because there is still a long trip home ahead of me. Nearly everybody in the group is on the same plane that will leave Casablanca in the morning at 6:30, which means we have to be at the airport for our international flight three hours early and that is 3:30 AM, which means we have to leave our hotel at 2:45 AM, which means I’m not gonna get much sleep tonight.

Our hotel in Marrakesh has a big breakfast buffet that features tourists from around the world elbowing each other to try to get some runny eggs and the sausage that’s made of something that isn’t pork. But they do have a treat I haven’t seen before: fresh made donuts for breakfast.

Yummy, right out of the hot grease.

We are headed for Casablanca.

The sign on top of the hill said Paloozaland. I have no idea what was going on there but I thought it was worth a picture. When I posted it on Facebook, a high school friend helpfully did some Googling and found out what this is.

The land is still arid as we drive north out of Marrakesh.

Here’s where we are. It’s about a 3-hour drive to Casablanca.

And now we have returned to an agricultural region.

Farms again! Hooray!

We raced a train to Casablanca!

At the rest stop I found a fallback Casablanca coffee cup. I promised Mother I would bring her one, so even if I don’t find the exact thing I’m looking for when we get to Casablanca, at least I will have this tacky one for her. (Follow-up: She has it prominently displayed in her apartment.)

We saw pretty flowers along the way.

And fancy architecture.

It's a Christian cathedral. How about that!

Nabil was sad to point out that even though Casablanca has lots of gorgeous old art deco architecture, most of it has fallen into disrepair.

The buildings surrounded a nice plaza.

I'll bet there's a Medina behind that wall. I've been in Morocco long enough now to know 'em when I see 'em.

We had lunch at this place.

It look like it stepped right out of the 1960s. It was probably a fancy place way back when, but it’s a little dowdy now.

Earlier in the trip I found bowls of this fava bean soup interesting. Earlier in the trip.

What was interesting was the window washer who showed up outside our table as we were eating.

After lunch we visited the beach.

Funny how the Atlantic looks much the same on the other side.

A lighthouse, complete with dangerous rocks.

The happy tourist on the final day of his trip.

Now that is a very big mosque.

The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is the largest functioning mosque in Africa and is the 7th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world's second tallest minaret at 689 ft. Completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau under the guidance of King Hassan II and built by Moroccan artisans from all over the kingdom. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca.

My iPhone's wide angle lens makes the minaret look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

There are beautiful decorations inside.

Beautiful everywhere you look.

The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean; worshippers can pray over the sea but there is no glass floor looking into the sea. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside ground.

Bill finds it totally satisfactory that this is the only mosque he will tour this trip. And they've saved the best for last.

I got the impression from listening to our local guide that this place is packed with worshipers on prayer rugs out in the open plaza and inside on special occasions, but the mosque is so large and intimidating few people actually use it for regular worship.

The Moroccan style of minaret is distinctive and quite different from minarets you see in other parts of the Middle East.

Quite a plaza.

And quite a minaret.

That is a really big door.

But there's a little door nearby.

And that's the one the Road Scholars use to get inside.

We learned that the place was completed in six years with workers employed around the clock in three shifts per day.

It was completed in 1993 which makes it basically brand new.

She was our local guide.

Everybody prays toward that niche because that is the direction of Mecca.

Let’s go down below to see where of the worshipers clean up before praying.

We are directly under the minaret.

Ritual purification, or Wudu, is to be performed, as was done by the Prophet Muhammad, in a specific order before praying, which takes place five times a day. Before each prayer, Muslims are expected to wash themselves in a certain order – first hands, then mouth, nose, face, hair and ears, and finally their ankles and feet.

That's quite an impressive wash basin.

You wash your feet and ankles using the spigots along this wall. And along the wall there are faucets where you can wash your feet. This was all very interesting, and proof that it’s not true if you seen one mosque you’ve seen them all. This one was pretty spectacular. But after a while it was time to move on to more secular interests.

Bill could stand to clean himself up about now, but there's so many people standing around.

Like a particular café. Can you read it up there? It’s Rick’s.

Bill is planning to come back later when it opens.

The Road Scholars are checking into the final hotel of the trip. There is a train station with a Starbucks about a block from the hotel. Bill walked down there hoping to get a souvenir cup from Morocco, or even better from Casablanca itself. But no, the very friendly barista informed Bill that there were no such cups in all of Casablanca and there was no point in taking a taxi to a different location. Fooey.

But maybe there’s a way to fix things. How about a taxi ride back to Rick’s Café now that it is open for the evening?

Bill has been looking forward to this moment the entire trip. He's actually at Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. Rick and Sam seem not to be here, but it's OK: Bill has his letters of transit hidden safely away in his hotel room.