As we had a 10:15am flight back to Casablanca, we were picked up at the at our hotel, the Dar Ahlam, at 7:45 by a local driver. Our guide, Kalam, and our driver had gone back to their homes in Marrakech after dropping us off at Dar Ahlam, so the hotel arranged for a local driver. The airport in Ouarzazate was about 45 minutes away and tiny. Our flight was about 40 minutes late, but we made up most of the time en-flight and during our stop at Zamora and landed in Casablanca pretty much on time. Unfortunately, our luggage seemed to be on a later plane, as we (and the other 20 people with checked bags on our flight) waited about 40 minutes for the bags to come through on the belt.
Outside, Kamal was waiting as usual and we were soon on our way to the city for a brief look around before going to our hotel. The plan was to take a tour of the Hassan II Mosque, which is the largest active mosque in Africa, completed in 1993. Unfortunately the last tour entry was at 3:00, and our delayed luggage killed any chance of getting there in time. But Kamal did some magic and got us attached to a small tour group that was just getting started.
The approach plaza reminds me of St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The mosque and surrounding plaza are designed to accommodate upwards of 120,000 worshipers, although attendance at daily prayers is really only a handful.
Anyway, the guide was entertaining and appeared knowledgeable. He concluded the tour with an impassioned yet friendly speech about how Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all about the same god, and all about peace, and why can’t we all just get along?
After the mosque, we took a spin around the city just to see what it looked like. Here’s what it looked like: a city.
More European than either African or Arabic, with 6,000,000 residents, high rises, global company logos, etc. Everyone told us there’s really nothing to see (as a tourist) in Casablanca other than the Hassan II Mosque, and it appears they are correct. On the other hand, it seems like a lively city to live in.
So Kamal dropped us off at the Four Seasons Casablanca, which turned out to not have a reservation for us. Big miss for the travel agent! After a few texts and phone calls, and unneeded aggravation, we had a room. Bummer to have our last night in Morocco go like this. But the room was fine, and then we went down to dinner (1). We didn’t do much unpacking, but we did rearrange our checked and cabin luggage for tomorrow’s flights home.
Tuesday, November 7: Homeward Bound
This morning our driver showed up right on schedule at 10:00 am to take us back to Casablanca airport for our trip home via London. The total door-to-door travel time from the Dar Ahlam until we walk into our house will be about 28 hours.
(1) An alcohol-free dinner. The Four Seasons does not serve alcohol, which is the first of our hotels to do so. I felt like we were back in NJ.
The Bassman Blog 