Casablanca

Is the largest city in Morocco and where my journey in this country begins. My passport now has an actual entry stamp in ir. No electronic passport scanning. Good old fashioned stamp pad. Nice to have some sort of record and to have one of those multiple blank pages used.

Spent some time at the Hassan ii Mosque today. The largest in Morocco and the third largest in the world.
The idea for the Mosque was first conceived in 1984. They began building in 1989 and finished just 6 years later in 1993.
10,000 craftsman worked in shifts 24 hours a day for the entire 6 years.
99.9% of the materials came from Morocco, with the 57 chandeliers made from Moreno Glass, from Italy.
It can accommodate 105,000 worshippers. 20,000 men inside, and an upstairs balcony accommodates 5,000 women with another 80,000 worshipers outside.
There are heated floors and a sliding roof. The roof opens in 3 seconds and closes in 2.

After the mosque I just wandered back to the hotel sort of getting lost but not really. What did we do before Google Maps! Didn’t stumble onto anything too exciting. I did find the central market, not too far from the hotel. Huge selection of meats, seafood and some fruit and vegetables.

The following day I spent sometime at the Villa Des Arts. A lovely oasis in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of a large city. For more information click –HERE

Generally I’ve found Casablanca looking at little down and little the worse for wear, which is a bit sad as the architecture on some of the buildings is amazing. Even the Hassan ii mosque was looking at bit sad in spots.

Tomorrow, off to Tangiers on the high-speed train.