Day 221
Day totals: 12 hrs, 14.6 kms

Today I'm going to do another little side hike to add a Casablanca suburb to the Superhike: Tit Mellil. To make this a full day of adventure, I decide to hike all the way from downtown—it’ll be a nostalgic trip, reminiscing my Casablanca Superhike back in 2010 as well as my first hikes around Casablanca in 2008. I head out at the crack of dawn where, of course, I have to start with a stroll down the coast and on past the glorious Tallest Minaret in the World…on through a eerily quiet downtown, and onto Boulevard Tachfine, one of Casablanca’s main arteries, spoking out from the city center. At first it looks like little has changed, as I trudge through the shabby, semi-industrial section of town.

Then, suddenly it reappears, the tramway line being built, that turns the wide boulevard into a two lane street—something it seems to be doing all around Casablanca, making me seriously wonder if this is really helping Casablanca’s traffic problem! I must admit that, lined with palm trees, and its spiffy new stations being set up, it gives a touch of class to this otherwise grimey section of the city.

On near the edge of the city, I reach the tram construction headquarters with a poster about the Turkish company, Yapi Merkezi building it. It takes me down memory lane, as I look through the list of cities they’ve built tramways for… Ankara, Bursa, Izmit, Izmir, Konya, Eskisehir, Kayseri… all cities that I’ve visited! I’d never think I’d see a list of these cities right here in Casablanca… this world is really getting smaller and smaller.

Right near the edge of town, I do find a dirty but interesting looking neighbourhood, packed with colourful shops and built around a central square and market area—one last “city within a city” to explore…

And then the stretch of short stretch of wilderness—mainly just trash strewn fields. I can’t say I’ll shed any tears once Casablanca fuse together and become one. Then it’s over the 2nd freeway, and I’m in Tit Mellil. There’s a wide boulevard lined with flags and palm trees… and not only a Municipalite of Tit Mellil, to confirm that, yes, this IS a separate city, but also the provincial capital building!

The province is Mediouna, but apparently Tit Mellil gets the honors of hosting the provincial capital.

Other than that, nothing seems to have changed since 2008, and I don’t really feel like retracing my steps. I catch bus 120 back to Casablanca, where I spend the remainder of my “Adventure Hours” in a shady plaza working on some of my songs.

Not a super-exciting day… but this day will go down forever in history as “The Day I Hiked from Casablanca to Tit Mellil”