Andre and Wendy: Morocco, Casablanca

Day 1 Travel Day

Tried unsuccessfully to change our flights out of Halifax today to Montreal for our connecting flight to Casablanca, we were worried about the 47 minute connection time in Montreal. No success, we will just deal with whatever happens.

Well, lots happened. Leaving the door this morning to drive to Halifax and I get an email from Air Canada that our flight was delayed departure by 45 minutes, 2 minutes will not do for a connection. Tried calling Air Canada, they will not help us because we are booked on a tour. Called the tour company they cannot help us as we have already checked in. Call back Air Canada, they unchecked us in. Call back our tour company they can't help us since it is an issue with Air Canada being late, they need to find us a new flight. The actual ticket is booked through Lufthansa, tried calling them too, no help because it is Air Canada that caused the problem. This all took 1 hour, a new email comes through, great news, we are booked on a new connecting flight to Casablanca that is direct, we will arrive 4 hours earlier that the first flight we were scheduled on. Tried checking in only again, successful for Halifax Montreal, but I need to check in at the counter for Royal Air Morocco flight.

Off we go to Halifax finally. Usual stop at Masstown for a break and pick up some biscuits for the trip.

Park the car at the hotel, we won't be staying there, but cheaper than airport parking, they charge $50.00 per week then $10.00 per day after that. Grab shuttle to the airport, Air Canada check in, they can't even check us in since Royal Air Morocco is not a partner with them. We may need to go out of security in Montreal, go to their counter to check in then back through security. Called Royal Air Morocco to see if they could help, no we need to go to a counter.

All worked out well in the end. We were about 15 minutes late on top of the 60 minutes already planned leaving Halifax. Computers were down so they needed to check us in manually. Then because they didn't have computers no one checked their hand luggage so we had way too many on our flight. We took an extra backpack from someone to put under our set with our 2, we just wanted to get out of there! When we landed the flight attendant asked that anyone not with a tight connection let others off first, I think this is the first time I have ever seen this work! We were out really quick. Walked super quickly along the moving bouncy sidewalk in Montreal that was broken, out of security, checked in with no one in front of us, and Nexus got us back through security again in no time at all. The whole thing took us only about 30 minutes, so we are all set to go, we think.

Boarding was a little slow in Montreal as well. Not sure why but we were only all onboard about 15 minutes after our scheduled time. Andre looks out the window, they still have lots of things to put in the belly of the plane! Turns out we leave 1.5 hours late from Montreal. We really didn't need to sit in those seats any longer. It was Royal Air Morocco flight, but there was nothing Royal about it.

Day 2

After our delayed departure from Montreal we ended up arriving in Casablanca only about 1 hour late. A driver is waiting for us, off to our hotel and pleasantly surprised it is right in the action. Our room won't be ready for another hour so off we go exploring. We are right beside the Medina, so off we go, run into a man that says he saw us at the hotel, we thought it was the bellman. After he took us to this carpet seller that we were “so lucky” he is in town I am pretty sure it was all a scam to get us in there. No carpets bought, and I don't need to put in a review for Oman that he asked me to do about 10 times.

Checked out a few more shops, so quiet in the Medina. We asked about this, they said when cruise ships are in it is very busy, but it is not the season for cruises right not.

Grab a couple of nice lemon pastries. Lots of little bakeries on side streets here. Back to our hotel, get checked in, and shocked to find one of the women from our tour we did in Jordan is in the lobby and on the same tour as us! What a small world! Get caught up a bit and then off to our room for a little break. Break over and off we go to find the Mosque and have a walk around the ocean front. It is a beautiful day today, I think around 16, great for walking. Lots of interesting architecture, lots of buildings in disrepair, falling down.

Back to the hotel for a rest we have an hour before meeting with our group, then dinner starts at 7:30 tonight. A great start!

Meeting went OK, a pretty big group, 27 are here now, 2 more joining tomorrow that missed their connecting flight and are spending the night in Lisbon. Lots of choices for dinner at the buffet, all cold, hopefully improves tomorrow.

Leaving NB to drive to Halifax, bye bye snow for 2 weeks

Royal Maroc Air, I think they forgot the Royal part as there was nothing special. The good news was it was direct from Montreal to Casablanca

First sight of Africa

I was not expecting so much farming. They say they have been in a drought for 5 plus years now and they are starting to implement water measures

On the drive from the airport to the hotel.

One of the many many mosque we saw on this trip

In Morocco the have petit taxi and grand taxi. The petit can only take 3 people max and have to stay in the city, while the grand taxi can also go between cities. Each city has it own colour of taxis.

Casablanca Petit Taxi

The Cathedral, did not see many churches on the trip as less than 1% of the population is Christian. It was not open to visit

On our walk to explore the city. Carpet Coop, so many sizes and styles.

Not a large variety of birds to see. Egrets, Crown, Pigeons and storks were the most common. A few other small birds here and there

Not much graffiti in the country anywhere

Water sellers but I think it's mostly a tourist thing for photo but I may be wrong

Peanut vendor

This guy saw us and walked us to his store walk in the back of the souk. The souk means a marketplace where the local shop. His was mostly trinkets for souvenir which we were not interested. You need to be aggressive in bargaining here otherwise you are paying too much

One of the side alley in the Medina. A medina is on old town surrounded by high walls. Usually not car in them, Some allow scooter and motorcycle and donkeys.

A square where people with carts to transport stuff to and from the stalls

All meats are open air, chicken here

Fish is popular here as Casablanca is a fishing town

Anybody for a watch

One of the gates to the Medina

Another Mosque

Maybe this will come to Canada, A hot dog pizza. When they say all meat, I guess they mean it, lol.

The Moroccan Flag

Beautiful doors everywhere. This was one of the few that had a mural on it

One horsepower or 49.

Having fun exploring the old town

Tourist info with no brochures.

Line painting. Truck in the back putting cones

Old Portuguese fort that has a restaurant dating back to the 1800s in it

Nothing gets wasted here

We made our way to the Hassen II mosque which is about 2.5 KM from our hotel, the Oum Palace.

It can hold 25,000 inside and 80,000 outside for prayers. The second tallest minaret in the world at 210 meters. We missed the last tour but we ended up doing it the next day anyway. It was completed in 1993 at cost of $400-700 million US.