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Africa
Entry 14 of 37 | show all | print this entry |
On Wednesday I left Santiago (the southernmost point on my trip) and crossed back into the northern hemisphere, arriving in Madrid early in the morning. At 12 hours it was the longest flight of the trip. My stopover was 15 hours long so I went into the city, which is connected to the airport by subway.
Madrid is a lovely city, with the narrow streets typical of Europe, and its terrific Metro subway system is second in Europe in size. I wish I could have enjoyed the place properly but I was so exhausted from the last couple days of traveling that I just spent some time reading in a park, had a meal, bought a new Morocco guidebook and then went back to the airport pretty early. The new Terminal 4, which my flights used, is one of the most expansive and well-designed ones I have visited, but at this point I'm fairly bored of sitting in airports. :)
The flight to Casablanca was short, but a meal was served including an ultra-sugary Ramadan treat. Announcements on the PA were made in Arabic, Spanish, French, and English. I was a little worried about my bag making it since I'd last seen it in Chile, but it was fine. We had to wait an hour and a half for the last train into the city, on which I met a man on business from Senegal who spoke a little English. From the Madrid airport I'd called to reserve my hotel right across from the train station, so I walked right there and went to bed.
I'm just spending today in the huge city of Casablanca; tomorrow I'm taking the train to Marrakesh in the south where I'll spend a few days. The big thing to see in Casablanca is the Hassan II mosque on the Atlantic coast. Only built in the last few decades, it has the highest minaret in the world and is the second largest mosque in the world. It cost 500 to 800 million dollars, and has a massive glass floor above the ocean and lasers shining from the top toward Mecca. However I foolishly forgot that it's closed because it's Friday, so now I'll have to try to go back tomorrow!
Because it's Ramadan now, no one eats during the day and almost all restaurants are closed. I'm going along with it too, even though it's not necessarily required of non-Muslims. There's supposed to be all sorts of excitement after dark though, so I'm looking forward to that. So far the most difficult thing here is the computer keyboard! The A and Q are reversed, as are the Z and W. The M is next to the L, and there are a bunch of other differences, too ...
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