Meknes, Morocco

Reception area of our hotel in Meknes, Morocco

After a long day exploring Rabat we travelled on towards Meknes, arriving well after dark. We settled into our accommodation for the night (shown above) and then walked a short distance down town to a lovely restaurant for the evening meal. This hotel was typical of those we stayed in during our tour. All were very comfortable and well kept with excellent service from the staff.

Next morning I took the photo below of a shop front. It was called “Miss Rose” but we left before we could see what kind of shop it was, or what it was selling. I only took the photo because our daughter’s name is Rose, and we had the delight of having her accompany us on this holiday.

Shop front in Meknes, Morocco

Modern building in Meknes, Morocco

Casablanca

Inside our hotel in Casablanca

After settling into our hotel in Casablanca, we went for a short pre-dinner walk despite the light drizzle. I just had to take the photos of the inside of the hotel before we left; the inner courtyard was delightful – our first taste of the mosaics so iconic of Morocco. In the coming days and weeks on this site I will be sharing many, many more photos of beautiful buildings and more, more, more mosaics. Stay tuned.

One of the attractions of coming to Morocco as a part of our itinerary was to visit exotic Casablanca. I guess I had an idealised vision of this city based on the romantic notions brought about by the classic movie of the same name. The movie’s depiction of this city is far removed from reality by time and modernisation. Down-town Casablanca is as modern as any city elsewhere in the world.

Some day I would like to return and explore this city in more detail than the few hours we spent there on this trip.

Inside our hotel in Casablanca

Inside our hotel in Casablanca

 

Magical Morocco

Streets of Casablanca, Morocco

Magical Morocco!

That says it all.

From visiting our daughter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for two weeks we flew out in the early hours to Casablanca. We couldn’t get a direct flight so we had to go via Cairo. Sadly we didn’t have more than a few hours there – and spent all of our “visit” to Egypt in the transit lounge. I was also disappointed that we were on the wrong side of the plane coming into Cairo. The pilot announced that the pyramids could be see off to the left; we were sitting on the right-hand side of the plane. The pyramids will have to wait until another trip; I guess they’re not going anywhere in a hurry.

The flights to Casablanca were uneventful. Getting through customs, however, took forever. After the delay we were united again with our daughter who had arrived on a different flight as we couldn’t get seats on the same flights. We also met our tour guide for our time in Morocco, Said, who we instantly took a liking to; he was the perfect guide for our two week tour of his country.

As we left the airport our first views of Morocco were rain soaked. This was the first rain we’d had since leaving home, and the last for the whole trip – except for a light drizzle one day a few weeks later. Our driver quickly whisked us through down-town Casablanca to our hotel for the night, and we quickly settled into our very comfortable rooms.

Today I’ve posted several photos taken of Casablanca from the balcony of our hotel. Not very exciting, and rain splattered as well.

Streets of Casablanca, Morocco

Streets of Casablanca, Morocco

Streets of Casablanca, Morocco