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Morocco: "from Casablanca going south"
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| Casablanca Thanks to Humphrey Bogart, the name of Casablanca sounds like magic, but we didn't like this city very much. Agressive atmosphere, lots of beggars and madmen, pickpockets, street rows and last but not least a big quarrel in the bus. A pity, because Casablanca is a nice town with broad lanes, many terraces in the shadow of huge palm trees, the biggest mosk outside of Arabia and a great soukh. The marina is under construction, so the boat was berthed 25 km to the north in Mohammedia. Here we had to do business with a harbour master who came shopping daily. We gave him cigarettes, but the whisky was out of stock, sorry. Anti-terrorism fee We had to enter the commercial port of Jorf Lasfar instead of El Jadida because of (at last) heavy winds. It was here that we had to pay the "ISPS fee" i.e. 90 euro's, for costs that are made to prevent terrorism in big ports! This fee is applicable to all boats, thus also to yachts. After extensive negociations we only had to pay the harbour dues (5 euro's). El Jadida A cosy harbour with very friendly people. We went by bike with Ahmed (the gatekeeper) to the extremely crowded soukh, the medina, made an appointment at the hairdresser's (his nephew) and went to the supermarket. |
The
name
of El Jadida means: the new town. But it is also a beautiful town. The Portuguese fortification is indeed
magnificent; a complete town with a cistern that has been decor in many
movies. PHOTO
1 When we were in El Jadida, the ramadan ended. Party time with lots of food: sweets and couscous. Ahmed's mother cooked for us, and it was very different (and much better) than any couscous that we tasted before. To Marrakesh by bus “Take the train from Casablanca going south” (Marrakesh Express, CS&N 1969). So did the hippies 35 years ago, but we went by bus. Four hours to Marrakesh and four hours back, not very comfortable but definitely another great experience. Nice to see the inland country: brown earth and lots of stones. PHOTO 2  “Colored cottons hang in the air, charming cobras in the square, striped djellebas we can wear at home...” it's all still there. Marrakesh is a Berber town, and you can tell that by the warm colours of yellow, orange, red and indigo that you see everywhere PHOTO 3  .
The soukh is gigantic, like Harrod's but then everything on one level. PHOTO
7
We hired a licensed guide at the tourist office and he showed us the nice spots. There are lots of interesting things to see, feel and taste, such as PHOTO 4+5+6 gardens, palaces, beautiful alleys PHOTO 8  ,
stench and noise. Traffic is formed by buses, cars,
bikes, motorbikes, pedestrians, handcarts and donkeys, so you'd better
watch out! |
Almost
stranded |
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