Casablanca

as much as i wanted to get in bed and sleep...it was daylight. gotta take advantage.

the guy at the front desk when i was checking in gave me a cute little map of casablanca and used a pink highlighter to show the main attractions, the mosque, train station, bus station, ricks cafe from the movie casablanca, etc. everything appeared very close. 

off to the mosque. after walking for about 30 minutes in what seemed to be the right direction (I could see the mosque the whole time) it was like an oasis. So close, yet so far... i didnt see one tourist in the near hour of walking there.  i was beginning to wonder. ummm... "HAYLO! WELCOME! WELCOME TO MOROCCO" "سلام"   (Salam: HI in Arabic) Lots of french and lots of arabic. both of which i known practically none. I lit up when a seldom few spoke spanish to me. a familiar language! 

((which made me realize how much i hate visiting places and not knowing the language... guess i better learn every language, because it definitely wont keep me from traveling.)) 

then the moment i got to the mosque i finally saw some tourists around. relief. there was an older gentleman wearing reef flip flops, plaid shorts, and a FILA tank top... He musssst speak english. i awkwardly stalked him for quite some time while we took in the beauty of the mosque (Together, even though he didnt know it) I lost him a couple times weaving in and out of the mosque then finally, my moment. 

"Where ya from?"

Australia! you?

California!

We chatted for a bit... Morgans on the tail end of a year away. He started in central america then went on to south america, europe, etc. He's just about ready to go home, but not before north korea, and a few other stops. 

Nice to meet you Morgan! 

we went our separate ways this time for good...

I read there wasnt much to see in casablanca but the mosque so if you were traveling through you should take the time so i had all day and i thought id seen all of the mosque i was going to see. i thought i would just lay on the steps like the flood of women, men and children who were all through the mosque. as i was laying there i looked up to see a girl about my age and same skin color walk by, we smiled at each other. it was refreshing. the moroccan kids were riding bikes, playing a dodgeball type game, and soccer right there in the middle of this beautiful landmark. i was taking it all in and snapping some photos when i noticed a few asian very obvious tourists walking down some stairs into the mosque.... i was intrigued. i was told the last tour was at 2pm and i didnt arrive at the hotel until 3. i stood up and followed the guys down the stairs of the mosque when i start hearing HEY!!! and some clapping... for a moment i thought, dont turn around. act like you know where youre going. confidence is key.... right? well i turn around to a man speaking arabic... i give him a blank stare, then he starts speaking french, nope. blank stare. (Ignorant american: here) right then a girl covered from head to toe in a traditional black muslim sahree grabs my arm, giggles, and says come on! she spoke great english. Zuni told me that was the stairs for men. oooooo. woops. she takes me around to another entrance where a woman stops us, points at me, and says no. Zuni starts explaining to me that its time for "Pryer" ((prayer)) and only muslims may enter. she takes me down another staircase on the side down to this room where there are women bathing themselves... she tells me we need to pray and bathe... umm okay!? lets do this. she gets me a stool and a bucket near one of the spouts of water and tells me we need to wash hands 3 times for "pryer", mouth 3 times, face 3 times, hair 3 times, arms 3 times, and feet 3 times. we shared this moment of bathing and prayer while cleansing ourselves. then she tried one more time to get me in for prayer. she tells the woman at this door that i am albanian. (thats all I understood)... she told the women she wanted to show me how prayer works. she wasnt buying it. muslim only! Zuni walked me out of the mosque, asked for my Facebook, hugged me, kissed both cheeks, and went back in for prayer. 

wow.

Hassan II Mosque was beautiful to see and take pictures of.... but THAT was awesome. 

my brother and i always joke that we will do anything if a good story might come of it. 

gotta be a go getter. even if it means trying to go in the mosque in the mens door. i gotta thank the asian tourists that were taking selfies in front of the mosque for inspiring me to get up and get on in there! I would have never met Zuni. 

i had met my satisfaction of seeing the mosque. i was ready to head back to the hotel, but was also getting hungry... i started heading back in what i thought was the same direction i came to get to the mosque and found myself right in the middle of medina... old market. it was wild. there was a table of huge fresh fish... like... reaaaalll fresh. eww. and tables upon tables of fresh veggies, all through these narrow alleys, once again. not another tourist in sight. i need to learn to blend in better :) my camera never helps me blend! one of the joys of being a photographer means you constantly look like a nerdy tourist. 

After turning around and getting back to the last familiar spot I remembered I took a different turn this time and ended up back in some medina alleyways again but a different scene this time. Camera across my body, but I didn’t take one photo. I was in such awe, I couldn’t even cover my eyes with a camera.

I was standing on the corner now realizing I was no where near my hotel when a girl about 16 years old in a purple satin dress said “are you lost?” I guess I stood out about as much as I felt like I did. I showed her the map from the hotel and she pointed me in the right direction. On my way back, I fell upon ricks café. It was one of the tourist traps I heard I needed to see while in Casablanca. Apparently its from the movie, Casablanca? I couldn’t confirm or deny this, since I’m fairly certain ive never seen it :-/ oops. But I stopped anyway. It was 6:24 and they were opening back up for dinner at 6:30. I waited on the stoop. 6:30 on the dot, they opened the door and said madam? And laughed at me... table for 1 please. When they opened the door and then a curtain into the restaurant I realized this wasn’t exactly a “café”… I was a bit underdressed and overly sweaty from traipsing all through Casablanca on foot all day, but they graciously sat me at a table upstairs. I ordered a mojito and signed into their wifi and thought I would keep me to myself and let everyone know I was safe and having a great time when they sat a girl at the table right next to me. Table for 1. It was the girl I saw at the mosque that exchanged a smile with me. We were instant friends. Hannah is also from Australia. She’s moving to Istanbul in a week for a study abroad program. We chatted for hours at the irony of our situation, seeing eachother at the mosque and sitting together at dinner. We laughed a lot and got to know each other. We shared travel stories and gave each other advice on other places we’ve been. What a nice way to end the day. As we got up to leave at the same time, we realized we were both staying at Hotel Central so we walked back to the hotel together and were both so glad to have a friend to walk back with since it was now dark leaving the restaurant.

Casablanca was a success.

Next stop Marrakech.