Heading to Casablanca, Last Tour Day 9, WTRD 49, Sep 27, 2016

Heading to Casablanca

Goodbye to Chefchaouen, beautiful blue city. We could easily have stayed a few more days in our beautiful accommodations and this picturesque old city, but we head down through the rift mountains through several agricultural and rural areas. It is another long driving day.

Poor Donkey.  Either Dead or Sound Asleep with his Pack on.

Many Women and Men where Spanish Influenced Sombreros

RABAT - Capital of Morocco

Jacob the Victorious of the Unifiers began to build a huge mosque here, but died before it was finished. The pillars intended for the mosque roof are standing and the minaret does not have its top.

The property is known as the Taj Mahal of Africa is now a mausoleum. Rabat became capital in 1912. The five star flag representing the 5 pillars of Islam in 1915. The city is Famous for the wax festival (candles and decoration). It is the administrative capital, home of embassies and ministries. It is a fast way of life in this metropolitan city.

 We stop to visit the Qasbah here, stretch our legs after a long drive, and take some photos.  We are now on the Atlantic Ocean.  The weather is pleasantly fresh, a little foggy, and smells like the sea.

CASABLANCA

Casablanca dates back to 10th century. It is the white city because of the white buildings. It is the largest city in Morocco with 5 million people, and the third largest in Africa. The mosque here has the highest minaret in the world and serves as a lighthouse; the laser beams can be seen from 30 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. The mosque holds, 100,000 people, main mosque for 95,000 men, with space for 5,000 women in separate section.

We arrive in the outskirts of Casablanca around 5:00 pm but it takes us an hour in rush hour to reach the city center where we visited the mosque. The mosque in the setting sun is beautiful.

We make a quick stop at Rick's Cafe, to take a photo. Now we will have to see the movie Casablanca.

Our Friendship Force group spent our last evening together giving accolades to our tour guide Ali and driver Abdul. They are an incredible tour team and have represented themselves and the friendliness and culture of their country extremely well.

Tomorrow, WTRD 50, we start our homeward bound trip. This is the last blog until our next adventure. So in the immortalized line from the movie Casablanca,

"Here's looking at you kid."

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Morocco heading home.