Moroccan Odyssey Day 24

Morocco Day 24: Casablanca- Hassan II Mosque and Jewish Museum 

Our final day in Morocco.

We began with a visit to the famous Hassan II Mosque.The mosque's construction began in 1986 and was completed in 1993 with 10,000 artisans and 3,000 laborers working 24/7.  Its architecture combines Andalusian-Moorish and modern styles with  intricate zellij tilework, carved stucco, and cedar ceilings mixing with  retractable roofs, heated floors, and advanced sound systems.  The mosque is one of the largest in the world and can accomodate 25,000 inside and another 80,000 in the courtyard, kind of like a Saturday afternoon at Michigan Stadium.

TTwo-thirds of the complex is built  over the ocean, to evoke the Quaranic verse “the throne of God was upon the water,” In addition to the mosque,  the complex includes a library, museum, and Quranic school,.

The minaret is 689 feet high making it the tallest minaret in the world (it is not really leaning like the tower in Pisa, just a photography issue)

Zellij tilework

This is one of the only large mosques in the world that allow non-muslims inside.  We did have to remove our shoes.

The inside of the mosque was enormous.  It was 100 meters wide by 200 meters long (that's 1x2 football fields) by 65 meters high which when added together gives 365 (days of the year).

Nearly everything, the marble, cedarwood, tile, plaster, and mosaics, was sourced and handcrafted in Morocco. The result is a showcase of traditional artistry 

Stucco

Lines on the carpet show worshippers where to line up

King's Door- Only used by the king

Retractable carved cedar roof

Hidden escalators

Younes gave us an in depth lesson in Islam including the correct technique for prayer. Prostration requires forhead, nose, palms, forearms, knees and toes to all touch the floor.  Moslems have to be pretty agile!

Below the main hall is the ablution room consisting of  a vast array of fountains for ritual cleaning before saying  prayers (5 times a day).  Washing includes the naughty bits, face, nose (inhaling water to clean out the nasal cavity), behind the ears, arms, hands, feet, and probably other parts I've forgotten.

The courtyard was so large, I think it took about 15 minutes to cross it to the exit.

From the mosque we went to the Jewish Museum, the only one in the Moslem world.

Our guide, Younes had never been here before since it was a request by us rather than part of the planned tour, and I think he foiund it enlightening. Parts of old, non functioning synagogues were brought here  and were on display. 

One interesting oddity was a parody of the Book of Esther, the "Hitler Megillah"

When we got back to the hotel it ws time to say goodbye to Younes.  He was off to Marrakesh to enlighten another group of Americans, and we were off to bed- 2 am wake-up for our flight home tomorrow.

Moroccan Odyssey Day 23

Morocco Day 23: Return to Casablanca 

Our last long day of driving.  Not going to miss these long overland trips. We began driving up the coast from Essaouira through small villages where horse and donkey carts were the primary mode of transport,

with an occasional motorbike thrown in

and also an occasional camel.

As we approached the first larger city Safi, we began to see the results of progress including a caol-fired power plant, 

and a phosphate processing plant.  Phosphate production near Safi is one of the country’s key industrial activities and part of Morocco’s massive role in the global phosphate and fertilizer market. OCP Group (Office Chérifien des Phosphates), Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company is the world’s largest exporter of phosphates and phosphate fertilizers. This plant gets raw phosphate from mines that are inland and processes it into phosphoric acid and fertilizer.  A new port in Sofi is a convenient way for the final product to get shipped.

Unfortunately, all this comes with a high price.  Air pollution here is terrible with the inhabitants sffering from a host of respiratory ailments.

Leaving Safi and the pollution behind, we stopped for lunch in a seaside resort town, Oualidia.  Little did we know that Younes had a surprise for us.

Today was Molly's birthday and he had arranged a party for her.

Along with "Happy Birthday" in English and Moroccan.

After lunch we walked across the street over some dunes to see the beach

Another chance to get out of our vehicle came just up the road with a visit to a local oyster farm. Oualidia is often called the “oyster capital of Morocco.” The oysters are farmed in the lagoon of Oualidia, a naturally protected estuary separated from the open Atlantic by a narrow sandbar.

The lagoon’s mix of saltwater and freshwater, its stable temperatures, and clean, plankton-rich waters create ideal oyster-growing conditions.

Suzanne had been waiting for this since we arrived in Morocco

and she was not disappointed!

As we ventured inland toward the main highway, we passes miles and miles of rocky farmland and stone walls.  We thought the Granite State was rocky!!!

We finally reached Casablanca just in time for rush hour (not sure when rush hour isn't).  Many of the buildings had elaborate murals.

After negotiating the crazy traffic, we reached our hotel, the same hotel where this all started almost a month ago.