May 10, 2014 
ISTANBUL to CASABLANCA. 2063 miles 
Astrid Hotel $50, double without breakfast

Goodbye Turkey. It was raining lightly when we left for the airport at 7:30 am. We allowed plenty of time because we needed to stop by VAT refund desk after check-in. It took us 50 minutes to get to airport. And was super convenient to take Metro as we could see highway traffic was slowed down. 
 
All went smooth at check in. Sadly, we were not successful at getting the VAT tax refunded for my iPad Mini. We're talking $126 so substantial. Apparently, the Apple store didn't give us the right paperwork. We specifically had requested it and they had assured us. Bummer. 

We flew Turkish Airlines, one of our favorite Airlines. Professional staff, decent meals. They haven't succumbed to the nickel and diming it's passengers. Their staff appear to actually like their jobs. A request is met with a smile instead of a harried response. 


We had to turn the clock back 2 hours, which meant a 26 hr day, I like it. We arrived at 2 pm, zipped through customs and easily found the train station downstairs. It is considerably warmer here, around 25C. We transferred after 3 stops to train that would get us to Casa Porte. 
 
We were accosted by pesky taxi drivers and touts as we made our way to the main Avenue. We ended up walking about 2 km and readily found our Hotel Astrid. Apart from the romantic notion people have about Casablanca, it doesn't have a lot to make it anything besides convenient transit point. Yet we decided to stay 3 nights and make some decisions as to what our next move should be. Getting a firmer grip as to places to visit, route to take and what form of transport. Renting the car has spoiled us terribly. It affords such freedom and enhanced our enjoyment of getting to know the places we visited more intimately. It has been 17 yeas since we were here last. We know better than to aim to relive those great memories. 
    
We were eager to explore a bit. After a mint tea at breezy terrace overlooking the medina we took the plunge and dove right in to the narrow lanes. I don't rate it very high on vibrant colorful medina scale. Mostly cheap Chinese made items: plastic goods, toys, shoes and clothing. Back on the arched outer periphery of the medina, we sat down for a refreshing mango juice. Much more choice of fresh fruit here compare to Turkey this time of year. 

Some interesting murals, done by famous Spanish Graffiti artist Raja, livened up an otherwise drab wall. Occasionally the stench of urine wafted through the air and I noticed several people using the street as public toilet.on that note we end our first impression of Casablanca.