Hotel Central Casablanca

It's the 11am train to Casablanca from the smart new Marrakesh station & good old French carriages (mainly compartments) and the 3 hour 15 minute run to Casablanca. A pleasant uneventful ride with lots of locals (under £7 National Rail please note).
I make the hotel with the Cup Final 20 minutes in on the cafe TV and until the picture goes in injury time am quite happy - I think Chelski won. The hotel is classic old French on a square with little shops & cafes and the windows have ...

All - for the first time since 23 October I have an internet connection. Many things to update - starting now... Today is our last day in Essouria. We catch a bus from Essouria to Marrakech, then a train to Casablanca. Essouria has granted us another splendid day although there is a little bit of a chill to the air.Both Shellie and I woke early this morning; listening to the sounds of the morning including the many birds which seem to like singing in the morning. Our breakfast was again delic...

We arrive to Rabat around 4pm, that is heat time in Morocco. We planed to visit Rabat only because we need next day morning go to Mauritanian embassy to buy visa. In case of spending night in Rabat we decide to find hotel close to train station. We found hotel Central (price 170 dr per double room), nice, expensive, with bathroom inside (toilet on corridor), 10 minutes with heavy backpacks from train station, busy and noisy area, perfect for those, who only want to have on night and use next...

Another nice sleep in (too much TV last night) and I had brekky around 10am again. While i was fluffing around in my room a fight broke out in the park opposite between i think a shop-man and a couple of kids, one of them was holding a broken bottle then the kid started to throw rocks and finally about 10 people intervened and another fight nearly broke out .... told you -- quality area! I retreated again to the safety of the basement and the internet and discovered that one of the computers ...

I had a well earned sleep in today as I knew breakfast went until 11am! I was down there just 10am for my bread, jam and sweet mint tea. It was free internet in the basement so i took advantage of it and had almost 2 hours down there... after-wards I headed out to the bank so i could pay for my hostel... everywhere was shut though. Took me a little while to realise today is May Day - a public holiday... I was in my own world not to have noticed... oops! Almost all the shops were shut & th...

Another half day of domestics - we chilled and had a sleep in and had our usual breakfast on the terrace then went around the corner to the book exchange. There was an Aussie guy in there who was getting a raw deal so gem made a deal with him...everyone came out happy except for the book exchange man who got cut out of the deal... oops! We walked for a bit to find a photocopier so i could copy my ski application then went back to the hotel to check internet and my plane flight. Back upstairs ...

After our time in Essauoira Gary and Joy had a night in Marrakech, then flew back to UK, while Jen and Brian caught the train from Marrakech to Casablanca. The countryside is very stark, and it's hard to believe it can be farmed. Rangy sheep pick at mere wisps of grass, and we had been told that goats climbed up the argane trees to feed on the nuts but until Jen saw them for herself, it seemed very fanciful. We arrived at the railway station after a 4 hour train trip, to spot the Hotel Ibis w...