April 6th, 2023 day 93 of 128

Casablanca, Morocco (Bus Tour to Rabat)

Good morning from the port of Casablanca. Today is a long one and we were up early and ready to tackle the days adventure. The alarm went off at 5:45am and breakfast was delivered at 6:00am. We ate in our room as we got ready and then headed to the Main stage to meet our excursion group at 7:15am. We wore our new pants we bought in the Canary Islands today and we got so many compliments on them. I wish I had bought more! They also made for great photos. There was a large group going to Marrakesh today on a 12+ hour excursion and our group was four buses going to Casablanca and Rabat on a 10 hour excursion. We left the pier and got stuck at the gate before even leaving the port. I guess our bus driver made an illegal turn and had to pay a $40.00 fine before we could even leave delaying us another 30minutes. Luckily, that was not an omen of the things to come for the rest of the day. In Casablanca we stopped at The Hassan the II Mosque. It is the third largest Mosque in the world. King Hassan the II had this built in seven years and ordered the workers to work around the clock until it was finished in 1993. He wanted to see it done before he died. Ironically, it was finished six years before he passed away. Ahhhh, it’s good to be king right? We saw the only Catholic church still offering services in Casablanca, the Mohammad the V Mosque, and the Mohammad the V square. Today was the day for uniquely beautiful doors with hand made knockers, tile mosaics and arches in every shape and size. Some we barely passed through in our bus and several we walked though. The architecture was so unique to Morocco and will forever be embedded in my memory. We had an absolutely wonderful time feeding the pigeons (flying rats as my mom calls them) in the square. We have such joyous memories of doing this in multiple places around the world and today was no exception. The man charged $1.00 for bird food and we gave him $5.00 and told him to keep the change. He kept filling our hands with more food until it was time to get back on the bus. I finally had to say no thank you, no more please. It always feels wonderful to bless another human and sometimes something so small means so very much. From Casablanca we drove to the Capitol city of Rabat, about an hour away. The King arrived in Casablanca yesterday and we saw the palace there, but he lives in Rabat normally and today we visited the palace there as well. Then we went to the Mausoleum of Mohammad the V and saw the architectural marvel that is an unfinished Mosque. It has 360 granite pillars the were erected to support the Mosque, but it was never completed so all that remains are its ruins. There is an unfinished spire here and we were lucky enough to be standing in front of the spire at noon when the call to prayer came to pass from the speaker on top of it. We could hear the announcement being echoed throughout the city from the mountain top we were on and it was quite a moving experience. From there we went to a local restaurant and had a traditional Moroccan lunch. We were served a salad or marinated vegetables, followed by Chicken Tangine and stewed beefed over couscous with cooked carrots, cabbage, zucchini, and potatoes, lastly, the brought a large bowl of fresh strawberries, oranges and Loquat. I had never had Loquat before and a passenger showed us how to peel it and eat it. It was delicious and I am excited to have tried something new. After lunch we boarded the bus and had one last stop at the Kabash Oudaya. It was once used as military base and it now alleys of shops, homes and restaurants. The view from the top of the wall looking out over the Atlantic Ocean was beautiful and a fabulous spot to take photos. After we left the Kabash we had a scenic drive along the coastline for a bit before getting back on the freeway and heading back to Casablanca and the port. Today was also the day of a 100 cats. Megan had fun loving on cats all over Morocco today. Every shape and size imaginable. There are so many photos we took today but there are already 66 photos attached below so I will save those for another time. We were back on the ship by about 5:30pm. We had a large late lunch and opted to just order some light bites from room service around 7:00pm and stayed in for the rest of the night. We have another long excursion and adventures ahead for us tomorrow so we are heading to sleep and hope to sleep fast. Enjoy all the photos, oh and the sunset photos is compliments of a fellow passenger, it’s so beautiful. I will “see” you tomorrow. Hugs.