Spent yesterday in Casa- we got a chance to walk through the ancien medine- the central bazaar- which was an amazing maze of vendors selling everything from tea sets to escargot to pain au chocolat. Didn't get a chance to do to much shopping (hopefully on the layover on the way back..) but we walked over to la grande mosquee, the 2nd biggest mosque in the world, which was just built in the 80s. The minarets towered over the city and it was right on the water, overlooking a gorgeous kornaic school.
We met up with Caitlin's friend and tried fresh figs with creme fraiche in her apartment which had a great view of the city. We went out for Morrocan bean stews (I even tried some camel tajine- a tomato sauce stew of dense camel meat and egg) and delicious mint tea. Every street corner cafe is crowded with men languidly sipping the overly-sweetened tea and not a single woman was in any cafe or restaurant.
The city looks nothing like Humphrey Boggart's Casablanca. Apparently, Rick's Cafe was an invention for the movie too, but they just built a Rick's which is apparently a tourist trap.
Royal Air Maroc put us up for the night since our flight was so delayed, so now we're just waiting for the other two interns to get in from JFK, and our flight to Bamako is tonight! Today we're going back into Casa to go to the beach and possibly a hamam (Turkish bath).
Deep Thoughts
14 years ago
1 comment:
Katie!! This sounds amazing. Im jealous. I've been wanting to go to morocco! You should definitely get a hamam, i had one in Turkey and it is QUITE the experience. but nice. Can't wait to hear about your arrival in mali and settling in...hope your flight goes ok! xoxox
Post a Comment