Casablanca - City of Contrast (Day 1)
When we arrived to Casablanca we were met by a driver from our first hotel (Oued-Dahab Hotel). Because of the time of arrival we chose to book a room for our first night in advance, preferably with an airport-pickup option.
There are other options to get from Casablanca airport to the city (the most reliable is the train line), but during the night the only one is taking a Grand Taxi. That is just fine, but when you are fresh in an environment like Morocco it is highly unlikely that you would find a ride like that for a reasonable price. Compared to the train price (35 MAD per person), the pickup was rather expensive (250 MAD for both of us). I think Grand Taxi would not come much cheaper, if at all.
Oh, and one more thing. Because booking in advance via email, the hotel even gave us a "Lonely Planet customer" discount.
The hotel itself is centrally located, reasonably cheap, quite basically furnished but clean. For those of you out there who are not traveling on such a tight budget, the same family also runs a bit more expensive hotel in the neighborhood which is supposed to be extra nice for the price. Check out Hotel Guynemer.
When exploring the city of Casablanca it is hard not to notice the extreme contrast. Various parts of the city look completely different.
You can find expensive shops in the city center. Locals walking around are clearly influenced by European style and fashion and a working woman in an European-like business outfit is not an uncommon sight at all.
When we walked from the better kept city center to the Hassan II Mosque, we also passed by some very poor suburbs. Those parts really look like slums. It seems residents mostly have to worry about getting enough food on the table on the day to day basis. Unemployment seems to be a huge problem.
Surprisingly just next to all that poverty stands the famous mosque. Not many mosques around the world are opened to non Muslims. Hassan II Mosque is one of them.
It is a remarkable sight, mostly made of marble and similar expensive materials. The amount of details and sheer size of the structure (it is the third largest mosque in the world) is simply amazing. It is speculated that some $800 million were spent on the project. It is not hard to imagine, why not everyone is happy with that.
It took us quite some time to take a good look at the mosque and its surroundings.
Afterwards we went to the nearby beach, which was quite a disappointment. There were loads of garbage to walk and swim amongst, but locals gathering there didn't seem to mind. We didn't like it much.
Our exploration of Casablanca was influenced heavily by the fact that it was the time of Ramadan (the ninth month of Muslim calendar marked with fasting).
During that month a good Muslim should eat and drink only before sunrise and after sunset. During the daytime nothing should pass his lips. Besides food, that also includes water and cigarette smoke. Not everyone we saw obeyed that last smoky part.
Well, as I was saying this meant that we had to put more effort in finding food. As we found out working hours also change during this time. Most shops, restaurants and offices stayed closed during daytime.
Immediately after sunset everything became alive again. With every hour streets were getting more and more packed with people. Quite a change compared to daytime.
We weren't too impressed with Casablanca, so we decided to move on in the morning.
