Casablanca

Arrived at the airport in the early morning and 'slept' there till the first train into town at 6.30. Walked in the direction of the harbour and checked into Hotel Central, with this view from the window.










Wander about town, Maroccan tea on the way to the artdeco catherdral.














Later walked out to the biggest mosque outside of Mecca, which is also one of the few non-muslims are allowed to see inside. Not during prayer times but in organised tours.

Strange really, that every Christian church is open to anyone who wants to take a look but mosques are seldom open to non-believers.











In the evening ate in a restaurant where the waiter praised the 'special' couscous into the heavens and said I really should try it, only to return a few minutes later saying there was in fact no meat in the kitchen that day so it wasn't available. The vegetarian option was indifferent. Later heard that couscous is a dish you shouldn't really eat in restaurants, it's more a home speciality. We also briefly went into Rick's Bar (a fake remake of the bar in the film Casablanca, which was actually filmed in Hollywood) but it was busy and we left after hearing the tail end of the piano player playing the inevitable 'As Time Goes By'.

The Hassan II mosque was also visible from the hotel window - it looks a lot closer than it actually is as it's so big.