Thursday, Oct 3rd, Casablanca, Morocco

Greetings!

Last full day in Morocco was memorable for a visit to two famous places: the Hassan II Mosque and Rick's Cafe.

With the opening in May of this year of the Great Mosque of Algeria, there is some dispute as to which mosque is the largest in Africa, but clearly this city's major tourist feature is huge.

It's 200 meter mineret towers over everything, and the capacity of the square and prayer hall is staggering.  Built by the sea (as the Koran dictates), it's titanium walls and retractable ceiling are very impressive (and expensive).

Next, we walked through Casablanca's old Medina, and found fish and meat butchers for everything you can imagine.  We tried to ignore the horses, and learned the names and looks of lots of fish.

After lunch at a garden restaurant near the Medina wall, we headed back to le Casablanca Hotel for a few hours free time.  Planning to consume the wine we bought long ago, but haven't been able to consume before dinner tonight, a fellow traveler and I decided to try to get into the bar at Rick's Cafe.

Three-day advance reservations are required for a table, but walk-ins are allowed at 6:30 to the bar.  Michael and I made full use of their generosity to wonder upstairs and down to take some photos.  We raised a glass of beer to the memory of a friend of mine, and to the adventure we were finishing.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on: Thursday, Oct 3rd, Casablanca, Morocco.