Hotel Barcelo Casablanca

... and a hostel we soon stumbled upon our perfect place and pitched up for Eid!

It was an immense celebration of the senses and ever since this seems like some other country all together. It has been an education experiencing Eid and all that comes with it in a country where 99 per cent of the population are Muslim and has made me once agin realise the power of religion ...

... leader, Abdul, was a lovely young Moroccan man.\

The only thing we did in Casablanca, other than dinner, was visit the Hassan II mosque. It is the third largest mosque in the world. It was very beautiful... and huge... elaborately decorated... and had a huge price tag to enter. Ultimately I felt it was lovely but a bit... empty. I mean, why have such a gorgeous hammam that nobody ever uses?

Anyway, we escaped Casablanca before lunch to make our way to Rabat, the capital...

... We shared our compartment with 5 other ladies that we chatted to throughout the journey. Arrived at Casa Voyageurs station Casablanca around 2:20 so only 10 mins late. Saif goodbye to Aussie Mike then tried to get a taxi to our hotel. Took a few attempts as no one seemed to know where it was, finally just told them to take us to Casa Port station and got there ...

... Our Favourite Things: 1. The Food: Kebab's, Couscous, Schwarmas, Tuna Pizza, Tajine.....mmm. 2. The People: A very friendly bunch. It is funny that countries located at the northern end of most continents are so friendly (Colombia, Morocco, Canada...) 3. The Medina of Fez: Spice shops, small alleys, hidden palaces, and community bakeries; a fun place to get lost.

... out and it was time to navigate the daunting taxi ride into the city. Armed with the Frommers Morocco guide book, we eyed the first driver suspiciously and tried to negotiate his initial offer of 300 DM (Exch rate 8.1:1), as the book said it should be 250. After seeing nothing budge, we decided that we'd suck up the extra $1.6 each and just take this guy. Fairly soon it was apparent that this guy wasn't that bad, with passable English and ...

... and waiting on the customs line i was fortunate to meet jessica. she is an american that was here for two years with the peace corp, met her husband here, and is now working in iraq. she was a godsend! she is fluent in arabic and she was able to help me sort out the lost luggage issue at the airport. afterwards we took the train in to the city and had a late lunch. it was so wonderful to get the help and ...

... the Imperial cities of Morocco. The Imperial Cities of Morocco (Rabat, Meknes, Fez and Marrakesh) were all at some stage the capital of the various Arabic Dynasties that have ruled Morocco for centuries, following the flow of Arabs from the Middle East in the 7th century in order to spread Islam. Prior to the arrival of the Arabs, the local Berbers were living a nomadic existence in Morocco. The Arab and ...

... how to help bathe, get the boys dressed, set up for meals, and serve breakfast. There are 12 little boys total and they are a handful! Two of the twelve are mentally disabled and they take a little bit more time and effort. And then another little boy, Unis, is blind. He is A LOT of work. He does not receive much attention and is usually left to himself either sitting on a bed or wandering around bumping into things. He is very frustrated and hits himself ...

... Oddly, Chewebacca spoke some sort of Berber German dialect. The desert offered up other secrets to us ...

... sighting, urgences, and snacks, and of course, repeating lines like 'earthquake line' 'original' 'restored'...whether it was me getting sick or Lynn's incredible alarm going off at 530am, i didn't feel quite on top... of course, just to check it off the list, i was sick during the night, so missed the guided tour of Marakesh the next morning, and the planned trip to the hamam. But in the afternoon the girls gave me a guided tour, and i bargained for two ...