Maroc - Morocco -2018 Casablanca #1 visit

#1
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Maroc
Morocco


June 2018


I finally made it to Casablanca. However, this being said it's Ramadan
Oh! well! Just remember I am a woman walking alone in the city so this is just a glimpse of Casablanca. I spend 2 days to get familiarize with this new city I will be traveling to all month.
So the pictures might not be perfect but I am here to give you an idea of the place.

I went there 30 years ago. Some elegant places like La Corniche had changed for the worst and some other parts have remained like it was so many years ago.
...................................................................................................................................................................

As soon as you arrive at the airport, you know you landed somewhere else.


To get out of the airport it could take some time 30 minutes to 1 hour.



hotel
right on a heavy busy noisy street

I slept a little. When I left Montreal that evening, I had to ask my poor mom of 84 to drive me to the airport my Jeep didn't want to go more than 5 km an hour. Don't ask me why.

So I ask my sister to take the Jeep to a garage and to let me know what was going on with my Jeep they skype me...

4 hours time change here in Morocco!

It seems that there was no problem and no more lights in the dashboard flashing. Go figure.
So I jumped out of bed and went for coffee and cookies for breakfast on top of the hotel near the pool.
Not my kind of place to swim in front of everyone eating around you while you swim. Nup!


Since I won't be able to find some food during my visit.  I decided to have a little bite to eat here before leaving the hotel.

I had the best-buttered cookies ever. They were with almonds. I also had those famous pastries from Morocco: Les cornes de gazelle.

I ate half of it and kept the rest for a tea party in my room later on for my return.

hotel

Wow!
the tramways are in arabic

I have to wait 19 minutes ok
but fuck I was in the wrong direction
the problem was I ask a lady if I was at the right place and she told me yes
so I stayed there
when 1 of the tram arrived she said
not the right tram you have to wait on the other side
thank you very much
why didn't she told me before...

WELCOME TO MAROCCO

I paid 8 dirhams
again
divided by 7 usually
but at the airport in Montreal, they cross me
by giving me only 5
so my advice wait until you are in Morocco to change your money
and in the black market, you get even up to 9
but only the wise one knows that and won't share the pieces of information
thank you, colleagues!

 They would like to have the football in 2026

so when I went across to catch the tram, the man didnt want me to go by
he said I had to buy another ticket.
I already paid and didnt use it
m. f.

I told myself
I have to come here 5 times and endure this kind of behavior from people of Casablanca
not very friendly one must say.

I was furious. So I decided that this event would not spoil my first visit here n many years.

I went to buy another fucking ticket
just to go across the bloody tram.

while I waited for I breathe in calmly by my nostrils and recorded everything on my camera talking very loud so everyone understood my frustration.

Over there they speak french and Arabic and some berberic

So they understood what I said on my video

I managed to find someone nice after that to tell me where to get off to go to the food souk to get a bit of everything I wanted to bring back to Canada and some food in case I was going to go hungry during fasting time.

nice gallery

no one is around on Ramadan

how to make pastry
brick

they go so fast it's so hard

The sweet man who sold me great stuff.
Ce marchand  vend le meilleur harissa vert au monde!
Du safran
eau de fleur d oranger
du raz el hanout pour le poisson
raz el hanout pour la viande

tres gentil monsieur allez le voir dites lui que c'est la boule d'or du Canada qui vous envoie!

I leave the food market to go to the old medina market
stuff and all

 while crossing the street you can check how people dress here in Casablanca

Nothing of my interest here but since it's my first visit and I don't want to get lost
its ok
I just want to have an over view of Casablanca there might have been tagine but...
I already had bags to carry with me.

 very nice  flowers all over town

The mouchardier is very nice

7 dattes in the morning can save you from all the trouble and problems...

Capucine bakery

funny story here when I got inside the bakery I had my sunglasses so I didnt see very well when I took them off I realize I was surrounded by hundreds of bees.

Marocco is keeping the bees all for itself. Inside were a lot of people working and didnt seem to be bother by them
OMG
I bought some stuff but was afraid to get bitten by them but they were too busy licking the honey here.

165 dirhams
$37.00

I know I should have written the cost of everything
this is what happen when you are jet lag
lsck of sleep
and on top of it in the country where they know how to bargain

fresh orange juice.

going out for diner
at Zayna
they say good thing about it on trip advisor
I rated this place
6.5 on 10

They had my reservation but not too much expression for my presence in their restaurant.
cold welcome
tiny place
its ramadan
so will do with it

I was going for a tagine but its preferable to go like the local buffet style
not a bad idea for your first time

so you wait for the signal of
Ftour
to start
where people feed themselves until they drop

I enjoy the variety of food there was
but unfortunately
the appetizer were cold
the little puff pastries would have been way better hot

If you go reserve for the round table

The famous tomatoe and pois chiche soup better than the white one but tasteless and lukewarm.
need salt and spices.

oh and this taste like oatmeal without sugar
woa!
need some spices and some salt as well.


The country of spices took Zayna apart and said you go blend girl!
so blend that its no fun to eat...
not even a little pot of harissa on the table.

vermicelle
tasteless

I was so happy to see all those tagines to try these delicious food
but

I had better Moroccan food at my sister

traditional moroccan bread

This I must admit I enjoyed very much
10 on 10
The one at the bottom so refreshing with stramberries and fresh little pieces of fruits
delicious.
I went for it twice

so here are my appetizers

here is the chicken vermicelle and the sardine balls

sardine balls or meat balls tasted good this was the most important part

the kitchen of the owner

toilet door regular washroom yeah!

what I enjoyed the most over there was the chance to meet a very friendly morrocan young couple

they were very nice to me and we had a great dinner 

this was important after all 

finally meeting some friendly moroccan nice people 

yes

I went out in the habbous afterward but everything was close because of ramadan. A very nice man told me to come back tomorrow at noon so I did after my lunch.

petit dej a l hotel

hotel breakfast restaurant 

JOUR 2
direction la corniche
la mosquee
habbous


Je prends un taxi.
On m'a formellement dit de prendre les taxis rouges seulement.
Il faut negocier ou aller avec le compteur qui pour la plupart ne fonctionne pas.

la plage Ain Diab a la corniche

Je ne comprend pas les gens qui laissent des vidanges derriere et qui jettent leur choses sur notre si Belle planete.
Ca m'horripile.
Ca ne me donne pas le gout de rester a la plage.
ca me donne le mal de coeur.

C'est si beau une plage, une mer...
Ils sont si chanceux de rester sur le bord de la mer quand nous on se gèele le cul à  -40 C

Je suis venue pour passer la matinée à la plage...et je repars excessivement déçue.

N'y-a-t-il pas de vidangeurs au Maroc?
En Afrique?
N'ont-il pas se sens de la propreté ?
Oui ils sont pauvres cela ne veut pas dire d'être cochons.
Je suis pauvre dans mon pays cela ne veut pas dire que je jette mes déchets partout.
Quelle horreur!
Payez ces jeunes qui s'amusent à la plage leur donnerait un boulot et redonnerait a cette plage ce pourquoi les gens venaient autrefois à Casablanca. Maintenant cet endroit est laissé à l'abandon. C'est dommage. J'avais un si beau souvenir de la Corniche.

I could paint this

J'attends mon taxi que j'avais dit de revenir je ne ferai plus jamais ça cela me gache ma journée. Je ne suis pas libre de mon temps. Et il ne sont pas la quand on leur dit d'etre la dans une heure 30 minutes pour la plupart je parle. Je prefere attendre pour un autre taxi qui passera.


Mosquée Hassan 11

ok the grand beautiful extraordinary mosque
grandiose
and perfectly built in 6 years
its a master piece
a museum of Morrocan art
visit for non muslim between
10 to 12
cost
$20.00 plus tip
can not go alone
need a guide
need to remove your shoes

Tourist are acting like idiots and one day you wonder why things happen

dress code

do we go in bathing suit when we visit buddist temple
no
do we wear short when we go to church
no
so why do you do it when you are somewhere else?

need to be cover
need to respect others religion by applying certain rules
no fucking kissing in public on religious sites
no shorts  no touching
wait until you are somewhere else

use your judgement
do we sit on Boudha when we visit boudhism temple
no
do we hug and kiss in churches
no
so why do you behave like idiots here

what I saw was chocking
ok now let me take you inside the mosque

Since I was the only one who spoke french the guide was upset and mean he rush me true the visit
no fun
than he was nice but at the end again when I tip him he was furious
for god sake for Allah sake take the tip and shut the fuck up $ 20 dirahm $4.00 was plenty for me
not for him
I give him another 20 $8.00 just to get red of him
really I already pay $20.00

See what I mean Japanese insulting attire

A great picture of the Moroccan women of Casablanca.

went for lunch at my hotel and refresh myself

ready for habbous
hope this will be the cherry on the sundae

Yes!
I had a good time there and would be spending all my futures lay over here. iiii

derriere il y a plein de petites rues pour se perdre iiii

 le marché des olives

 j ai également acheté des épices ici des epices que l on ne retrouve pas au Canada

 celles-ci ont été les préférées de tous.
Des olives noires à l'ail.

 cute

 On marchande fort ici.

 Ah La voilà la fameuse porte du fameux patissier Bennis

 les cornes de gazelle

 celles-ci sont mes préférées mais encore plus celles au arachides mais iic il n y en avaient pas mais je crois que les fameux biscuits que j ai mangé a l hotel venaient d ici.

 bon un achat de taille mais un tagine ca se négocie
difficile surtout que je n ai pas grand temps pour le magasiner parce que nous comme nous sommes agents de bord on a pas vraiment le droit d apporter de gros souvenirs bien dommage mais voila je dois en profitez aujourd'hui car le retour, il n'y a pas beaucoup de passagers donc il ne risque pas de se casser. Je dois en profiter car les autres vols vont etre pleins a craquer a la fin du Ramadan.

J'ai fait un souper marocain a ma mere et ma soeur c'était divin.
Un tagine de poisson avec mon raz el hanout de mon bon monsieur
c'était plus que parfait!

Demain matin je dois me lever tot.
4 heures
ce qui veut dire minuit mon heure
aoutch!
je vais donc manger a l hotel
aoutch! le Ftour est a 495 dirham
elle ne veut pas que je rentre meme si mes collegues sont la.

trop cher
je vais donc manger dans ma chambre dommage
je voulais tant manger local manger un tagine au poisson
j ai du commander un hamburger
poche
un hamburger qui n ait jamais venu
du papier de toilette que je n ai jamais recu
apres 1 heure d attente j ai donc descendue en bas
ils étaient entrain de manger
Merde! Moi je suis la cliente et je dois attendre et descendre a la réception pour me faire servir.
pardon ça fait plus d'une heure et demi que j'attend pour le papier de toilette
et une heure pour le hamburger tout ce que j ai c est une opératrice du nom de Sandra qui rit au telephone à chaque fois qu'on l'appelle. Elle trouve cela drole.
c est un peu chiant non!
j ai fini par recevoir un hamburger froid et du papier toilette mais la je ne vous dis pas dormir comme ca c est pas bon.

Sommes tout ceci à gaché ma tres belle journée mais voila je dois y retourner 5 fois 5 fois
Que vais je faire ...

A suivre