6/22 Dallas Café

We slept in until 10:30, and checked out by 11, though the girls took until the noon deadline. Two people for one night was 220 total. By the time we awoke, Naomi, Kristen, Whitney, and Liz were gone, though Whitney had to take here friends to the airport. We didn’t see any of them again and they left on their own. We had a quick coffee and croissant to hold us over until lunch, and then found out where the Market was. Along the way I found a place called Dallas Café. Don’t worry, there are pictures.

Supposedly the Central Market in Casa is supposed to be the best fruit in Morocco. It was about the size of Santa Fe’s and though I’ve seen bigger in France we did arrive when some had already closed/left (the market closes at 2). We shopped around, I got a bunch of bananas for 12, and Strawberries for 6 DH. We ate there, mainly due to the fact that shops there fight for your patronage. I had an amazing shrimp meal (though New Orleans was still better), and they washed and served my strawberries for me.

We then left for Hassan II, but along the way, Mely and I stopped at Rick’s Café. The place was only open until 3, then closed until 6:30, so we decided to go before the mosque. You had to pay for either a meal or drinks to get in, and we didn’t have time for a meal but didn’t want to miss our chance, so we decided to drop the cash for the experience. I’ve never seen Casablanca, but after visiting the place I definitely want to. In fact, of all the Gin joints in all the world, the first scene I ever saw from the movie was at this one. Also, the café totally overlooks the ocean, which apparently breaks a line in the movie. After taking pictures like a tourist with one day to live (I whooshed at the piano), we sat to soak it all in and drink our tea (30 DH here! compared to 7-ish elsewhere). Also, my hypothesis was proven, any place as fanciful as that definitely had toilet paper.

We quickly walked to Hassan II, which wasn’t hard to find as it overshadows the entire city and was just further on the coast. A 15 minute walk later, I was yelled at by the usher/bouncer, for almost entering where only Muslims can go. He told us where to get the tour, so we ran to the other side and down the stairs in time to catch up with the rest of our group. In part because we always stopped to take pictures of all of us, we were always last in the tour. Apparently, the mosque was built in 6 years and was worked on 24-7 until then in shifts. The architect was a French friend of the king, but all the materials (save some small columns and the chandeliers – Italy) were from Morocco. The ceiling was wood, intricately hand-carved, and could open up for nice days like a stadium. There were hidden speakers for the Imam to call from, and seats for religious leaders to teach from. The doors are huge, very intimidating, and the floor beautiful and colorful marble. We took off our shoes to enter the main area, which can serve 25,000 worshipers (20000 men, and 5 women in the mezzanine). We also saw the absolution chamber, where they would go to clean before worship (3 times per face, hand, and foot). Lastly we visited the Hammam, which wasn’t open yet, so we felt we could actually sit on the benches. Apparently there is an outside laser which points to Mecca (though we never saw it last night), and a glass floor overlooking the ocean, which wasn’t in the part tourists could visit.

We passed out outside the mosque, and after a five minute blink we walked to the street for a cab. The taxi charged us 10 DH per person, which was actually a rip-off (20 DH for the distance usually), but they got the job done. We made it to the gare, and caught the train back home to Rabat, though I ran to get Sam from the restroom, and we had ran across the tracks to get in on time. Dooler and I stopped by a café on the way back, and we somehow found the energy to walk back in time to catch the Italy Spain game.