On the Road to Essaouira

Day 2!

Mom outside the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca

Door at the Hassan II Mosque

Entrance to the Hassan II Mosque

Monday started our first big day of touring at the Hassan II mosque in Dar El-Beida (that's Casablanca to you gringos). The Hassan II mosque is the third largest in the world, second only to those at Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia and could easily swallow the Notre Dame or St. Peters Basilica. Built recently in 1993, it is really the one and only highlight of the trip through Casablanca which otherwise would be like visiting Hartford, CT and watching people go to work at their insurance companies. The difference in Casablanca is that most of the women wear the traditional "jelabas" and there are about 20 men out on the street for every one woman.

I do have to say that the mosque was amazing. Taking only 6 years to build, it employed 6000 artisans and workers on 24 hour shifts and the workmanship is something rarely seen in modern buildings. And on top of that, you have the size...large enough to hold 25,000 faithful on the inside and another 80,000 faithful on the outside. There were speakers set up outside on that wide plaza to accomodate the thousands of worshippers who crowd the mosque nightly at 9:00 for the evening prayers. I have asked our guide, Aziz, to bring me by when we get back from the coast so that I can see it.

Unlit interior of Hassan II

Shoe pillowcases to hide shoes during prayer at Hassan II

Interior decor

Men's ablution chamber under the Hassan II Mosque

Hammam (public bath) at the Hassan II Mosque

After finishing at the mosque, we got on the road south towards the coastal town of Essaoura (Esa-wera). We first drove on backroads, taking in the substinence farming and the large number of donkeys and mules that are still a very real part of commerce and agriculture in Morocca. We drove into the resort town of El Jedida ("the new") which I gather is Morocco's answer to Ocean City, NJ. It is a booming summer vacation spot but then all but empties out come September. We didn't see much, since our planned rest stop was at the Afriqia gas station and associated cafe. I can't be too disappointed in it though since I discovered that when you ask for orange juice anywhere in Morocco what you get is really orange juice, fresh-squeezed. Citrus is one of their top exports and I realized that a fair number of Clementines that I purchase at Whole Foods come from Morocco.

John of Peoria with Aziz

We continued driving through smaller villages and along coastal agricultural regions. It seems one of the main crops was a form of shade tobacco for drying into a powder and then chewing. Mom and I made the bus driver keep stopping to take photos, but no one else in the bus seemed mobile enough to get as well so most of the time it was us scrambling on top of rocks and down cliffs to get good photos of ports, fields, gourds, and landscapes. At one location a small boy of about 12 materialized out of nowhere and clearly started asking us for something. I thought he wanted money, but when we asked our guide he said the boy was saying "Stilo". He only wanted a pen!

Crops along coastal road

Boy at overlook
Donkey hard at work

Lunch was a coastal restaurant in Safi. I didn't imagine vegetarian in Morocco would be such a pain in the a$$, but it seems that I am in for a long three weeks of boiled potatos, white rice, cheese, and bread. I am considering trying to do one day of fasting along side Aziz for Ramadan, but since it includes no intake of water, I cannot fathom the headache I would have (not to mention the crankiness). It would help solve the looking chubby in photos problem, though!

Lunch in Safi among bouganvillas

After lunch we stopped at a grocery store somewhere in East Buddha to use the "facilities". This would be a Turkish toilet with no toilet paper and a bunch of gaping eyes as I came out. I would say "we", but upon seeing the toilet, the other women in the group decided they didn't need to go so much. Mom purchased a Nutella knockoff and I got Trident gum. How global, huh?

We didn't arrive in Essaoura until 6:00 pm and it turns out that it was everything Aziz promised it would be. A large expat and hippie population left over from the 70s, a fascinating fish industry, and hawkers and handicrafts as far as the eye can see in the medina (more on that tomorrow). I went on a run at 6:30, just as the city headed indoors to break their fast at sundown, and then we met the group for dinner in the hotel. I have decided that I am going to decorate my house Moroccan style, so I am constantly snapping photos for ideas. Now I just need to go back to work so I can afford it!

Guest lobby at Hotel Des Isles (Funduk al Jezeer) in Essaoura