Casablanca and the start of adventure #1

The McLains are on the road, and planes, and vans, so far. We left Denver at 4pm on Saturday and arrived at our hotel in Casablanca at 7pm on Sunday. Long, but relatively easy travel. We were pretty hungry and tired upon arrival so happy to get to bed night one. 

Today we had the kids up at 8 for breakfast at our hotel. We all really like the self-serve Nespresso machine and the kids voted this crepe/tortilla type breakfast bread as the most delicious item offered. 

We walked for several miles through town on our way to the Hassan II Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world and constructed from 1987-1993 at a cost of 800 million. Twenty thousand men and 5,000 women can worship inside. We all really enjoyed our tour and the mosque was beautiful.

We walked through a mall for fun. It is always interesting to see what is the same and what is different. Typical food court, and layout, but most of the stores were unfamiliar. Our favorite was named, “Don’t call me Jennyfer”. Pretty funny.

We explored the beachfront and the Medina and had a relaxing lunch at a French restaurant near the mosque. It was delicious and a good opportunity to relax. We were all a little jet lagged today so after our long walk home we all caught afternoon naps.

Tonight we met the fellow travelers on our tour. For the next 14 days we are with 8 other travelers from Canada, Switzerland, Italy, and Massachusetts. They are mostly women about my age but also 2 young men in their 20s. So far everyone is really kind and multi-lingual. We have a guide and a driver so we are in good hands.

We had a tradition Moroccan dinner of tangine, cous cous, and pastille. All of it was delicious and we all tried something new. Dagny is loving the traditional mint tea. I think she will have it everyday.

Magnolia and I love seeing all the cats. Much like Rome and lots of other cities I have visited, Casablanca has tons of street cats. We promise not to touch any, but they sure are cute. 

We are working on being traffic aware. Much busier intersections than we are used to. Adelaide got extra close to a slowish moving motorcycle in the Medina. She’s fine. It was mostly funny.

We are tucked in tight in our very comfy rooms for a 7:30am start tomorrow to Tangier. We are already learning a lot and appreciate our time together so much. 

Happy Memorial Day back home!

Jll