We drove about an hour and a half to the site of Volubilis, a 25 hectare pre-Roman settlement of ruins dating back to 300 BC, nestled in a valley of fields and hills. We've spent a lot of time in a car on our trip, but we've been able to take in a lot of the stunning countryside with low green grassy fields, giant aloe plants, and olive trees as far as the eye can see.
We spent one night in Meknes, another big city with 3 layers of Medina walls totaling 45 kilometers
. We quickly realized that Western tourists are not the norm here this time of year, made a quick walk through a busy Medina square, getting hassled by beggars and dodging the snake charmer. We accidentally ending up with an elderly Berber man wanting to sell us rugs. We found a great little old bar near our hotel to have a few beers, okay 13 total among the 4 of us, with some appetizers for about $28, and then went to bed early.
The next day, 3 more hours in the car to reach our final destination, Casablanca. Walked through town, checked out the largest Mosque in Morocco nestled up to the Atlantic Ocean. We had dinner and drinks at Ricks Cafe from the movie Casablanca. We're staying in a big nice hotel here, missing our little tiny historic riads. We went up to check out the sunset on the terrace, only later realizing it was the private rooftop for the empty Penthouse suite. Took our own tour of the suite, finding the mini bar empty but seeing what we could get for $5000 a night!
Tami and Dean left earlier today for Madrid while we continued to explore the city by foot
. After awhile we became hungry (we were able to get the hotel to comp their $50 breakfast due to a broken pool) so we found a little tapas bar for more yummy tasting food, cold beer and sangria. We are staying in tonight with a bottle of wine overlooking the sprawling city of Casablanca from our 15th floor.
We've been extremely thankful for the welcoming and hospitality we've received in Morocco (everyone has asked us "are you happy?"), the sights, ancient charm, fresh foods purchased daily from little stalls in the medinas, fresh squeezed orange juice every day, the ease in moving from place to place (the highway system was great with with roundabouts everywhere!) Despite the multiple languages everyone around us speaks, French and several dialects of Arabic and Berber, the people always made an effort to help us in English.
We got up at 4 am this morning, to catch the train to the airport. We've just landed in Madrid where we'll be spending our last 24 hours doing a whirlwind visit of the city and seeing how many tapas we can eat.
Casablanca
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Casablanca, Grand Casablanca, Morocco
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2025-02-06
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aulp
2017-01-15
Casablanca- how romantic! Safe travels.