Woke up somewhat refreshed this morning after a good night’s sleep. Breakfast was delicious – cereal, omelette and Moroccan biscuits washed down with Moroccan tea, then an easy 3km walk to the Hassan II Mosque, including a section along the shores of the Atlantic. Hassan II is the world’s third largest mosque, completed only twenty years ago by 6,000 craftsmen and 3,000 labourers. It can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 outside, a capacity that is regularly reached during Ramadan. The mosque is partly over the Atlantic Ocean and the dome, which can be opened to allow natural light and area in, weighs 1,100 tonnes!
We then walked to Rick’s cafe to enjoy the ambience, drink a gin and tonic and eat local olives. Unfortunately Sam was not on deck, so we were unable to ask him to play something for us to enjoy as time goes by. Probably just as well – we would have felt obliged to request an encore.
Then a short walk to the Sqala Cafe Maure, set in a beautiful courtyard garden on the medina wall, for a scrumptious lunch of goats cheese salad and fried lamb, beef and crab meat rolls. We then enjoyed a stroll through the medina, checking out the many shops and stalls selling counterfeit fashion goods as well as wooden and metal artifacts, before reaching the Central Market on Rue Mohammed V where we bought some beautiful fresh fruit and local cheese to enjoy in our room tonight. It is now almost 5pm as I post this blog and we are venturing out shortly for further exploring, as the temperature starts to drop after a hot, humid day.
Tomorrow: We are being picked up at 10am for the short journey to Rabat, where we have a day and a half to ourselves before we join our tour group.
Woke up somewhat refreshed this morning after a good night’s sleep. Breakfast was delicious – cereal, omelette and Moroccan biscuits washed down with Moroccan tea, then an easy 3km walk to the Hassan II Mosque, including a section along the shores of the Atlantic. Hassan II is the world’s third largest mosque, completed only twenty years ago by 6,000 craftsmen and 3,000 labourers. It can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 outside, a capacity that is regularly reached during Ramadan. The mosque is partly over the Atlantic Ocean and the dome, which can be opened to allow natural light and area in, weighs 1,100 tonnes!
We then walked to Rick’s cafe to enjoy the ambience, drink a gin and tonic and eat local olives. Unfortunately Sam was not on deck, so we were unable to ask him to play something for us to enjoy as time goes by. Probably just as well – we would have felt obliged to request an encore.
Then a short walk to the Sqala Cafe Maure, set in a beautiful courtyard garden on the medina wall, for a scrumptious lunch of goats cheese salad and fried lamb, beef and crab meat rolls. We then enjoyed a stroll through the medina, checking out the many shops and stalls selling counterfeit fashion goods as well as wooden and metal artifacts, before reaching the Central Market on Rue Mohammed V where we bought some beautiful fresh fruit and local cheese to enjoy in our room tonight. It is now almost 5pm as I post this blog and we are venturing out shortly for further exploring, as the temperature starts to drop after a hot, humid day.
Tomorrow: We are being picked up at 10am for the short journey to Rabat, where we have a day and a half to ourselves before we join our tour group.
No comments:
Post a Comment