Cafe au Laits, Croissants, & Casablanca

We entered Morocco via Casablanca, and spent half a day here before heading south. Casa has a very European/French feel to it with wide boulevards, cafes, and a distinct lack of third-world chaos. While it does remain a fairly poor city with large slums surrounding it, the city-center doesn't let on to this which was a treat following our last day in Cairo.

Our first stop was to a patisserie where Lindsey was successfully able to order us breakfast in French! English isn't that widely spoken here which is funny given that everywhere else we've been has really catered to English-speaking tourists! Our petit-dejunier was divine, especially the coffee which contrasted sharply with months of instant-java. The chocolate croissants and baguette were other treats of returning to the western world.

The main tourist attraction in Casablanca is the Hassan II Mosque. Built by Morocco's former sovereign, the mosque is the second largest in the world (after Mecca), cost nearly one billion dollars, and was completed in 1993. Unfortunately, the site is closed to visitors on Fridays (their holy day) so we missed out!

To fill our day, we took a long walk past some of the city's best know Moorish/Art-deco architecture. Again, a lot of the city looked French, with some Moorish accents. We liked the French/Arabic street signs.



Our last stop, before catching our train, was the local market. Sardines, horse-meat, and lamb were the most popular items.



So Casablanca wasn't that thrilling (we only took 10 pictures!), but luckily we had planned to just spent a day here! Next stop: Marrakech.