Le Zenith Hotel Casablanca

... 30-45 minutes to a small Berber village, where we had their famous sweet mint tea and some pastries. Then we rode vans back to the bus, and took the bus to our hotel. I think I’ve said this before but one of the nice things about taking trips through Semester at Sea is that the hotels are always very nice (usually at least 4 star). I think that’s part of SAS’s schtick, and of course we’re paying for it but as part of their ...

... old French on a square with little shops & cafes and the windows have shutters. The 1920's French influence will be a feature of Casablanca. The Hotel is in the old Medina so a wander is called for through the souks. Now I have left the tourists behind, this is somewhat more real - local stalls, rubbish, and a pervasive smell of pee - altogether more Morocco. There is no real tourist attractions ...

... now forward this on to 10 of your friends). i know some of you more vehement (yet efficient) folk might go as far as to 'block sender' (or now that i said that, many of you are using the 'options' tab to find out how to do that). or maybe your one that reads just enough, so that if i ask you about the blog when i get back, you've got a nugget or 2 you can throw out to pacify me. then there are those of you that find a perverse entertainment out of ...

... again, haha. Plus, they were not kept very well either and I actually felt bad about riding them. It was the craziest and funniest hour of my life though. I will always be able to say now that I rode a camel in the rain with some interesting details that if you really want to know them, feel free to ask me some other time!! After the traumatic camel experience, we headed into the Atlas Mountains. They were amazing. We passed numerous Berber villages and kept climbing ...

... was plenty of space at the bar available which we promptly took, planting ourselves and proceeding to methodically make our way down the drinks menu, with the bartender providing some good entertainment. After about 2 hours it was clear we were never making it to the nightclub and were all still tired, so after Chad took care of the check (Thanks Chad!) we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. At this point we ran into what would turn out to be ...

... out strong devouring 5 cheese burgers in about 5 minutes but felt the pain on number 7 and called it quits at a disputed 8. Team Ovaries successfully managed 5 each despite feeling more than a tad sick at the end. Sam and Tom took longer than 30 minutes but managed 9 and 7 respectively. So no one bar the girls actually completed the challenge. All however vow never to eat another cheese burger again. Arriving back ...

... didn't seem to comprehend why we would think there would be some sort of problem.  Figuring that things should be looking up soon we headed out for the one reason we came to Casablanca: The Hassan II mosque. Unfortunately, Casablanca previously had no major monuments or sites of importance, so when Morocco decided to build the third largest mosque in the world they chose Casablanca.  Now, some may think "but the movie, Casablanca, it was so charming and ...

Casablanca housed the original restaurant filmed in many of the scenes of Casablanca the movie. We were able to drive along the coastline which was filled with, literally, tens of thousands of people swarming the beach. It's a very popular attraction. Too hectic for us to try to sunbathe and I think nude sunbathing was out of the ...

... waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. 10 And all that have not fins and ...

... is the second largest in the world only to Masjid al-Haram in Mecca with a minaret reaching 210m and capacity for 25000 within itīs walls, with room for an additional 80000 in the surrounding courtyard. It took only 6 years to complete (1989), but that was with the aid of 10000 tradesmen working 24/7. However, despite all the grandeur and tourist dirham the amazing place of worship brings, it naturally came at a cost whereby ...