Today (Friday – I’m a little behind) was a bad day. I woke up feeling like I hadn’t digested my dinner the night before, and I found out a little later that I definitely hadn’t. Things got worse as the day went on. I threw up twice – once outside a mosque (not my finest hour, although it was into a bag) and once in the bathroom at Rick’s Cafe. The good news is that I am writing this on the following day and I feel great. A lot of people on the tour with us also got sick.
The following is mostly written by Barbara since I was in no shape to do much other than throw up and sleep.
We first went to the Hassan II Mosque. This is a fabulous mosque that was built in the 1990s, so is hundreds of years younger than most of the other mosques we have seen. It’s hard to describe how beautiful the mosque is. First it is massive in scale. 25,000 worshipers can attend a prayer service inside the mosque at one time, plus another 80,000 in the mosque’s courtyard. It took 7 years to build using 3 eight hour shifts each day & required many different types of artisans including wood carvers, mosaic work, experts in plaster etc. The chandeliers are Italian Morano crystal & they are everywhere. Pictures tell the story of all the detail work so see below.
The lower level is for washing before prayers. The fountains of rain water used for washing are themselves works of art & there were too many to count. Even this lower area is filled with beautiful artistic detail. See below.
We had a very interesting lecture that portrayed Islam as a peaceful & moral religion.
Moroccan people really condemn the extremist elements in the religion & we learned that France sends all their Imams to Morocco for training & they cannot preach without being certified in Morocco. The hijab is banned in Morocco. One really interesting thing is they cannot question anything in the Koran, they must accept it as it is written. Our local tour guide said that the Koran is not open to interpretation. However, as in all religious texts, people interpret it very differently. That is how terrorists justify horrible violence in the name of Islam, but most Muslims view it as a peaceful and tolerant religion.
Note from Jim – I felt good after my little episode outside the mosque, so I was able to enjoy it. It was beautiful and very interesting.
We then stopped at a museum – Musee Abderrahman Slaoui. We viewed a collection of vintage posters, jewelry, pottery etc. The poster below is for cigarettes. Smoking is still very popular in Morocco & is still permitted in restaurants and bars.
We had lunch at Rick’s Cafe. A recreation of Rick’s Cafe Americana from the movie Casablanca. The movie was actually shot in a Hollywood back lot, so the restaurant is an image of an image. It is located in a beautiful Art Deco building & the piano is a baby grand not an upright.
We then got on the bus for the four hour ride to Marrakech. Jim slept the whole way there (plus he slept through dinner). We are staying at the Marrakech Four Seasons, which is a beautiful, sprawling resort.
Jim and Barbara's Travel Journal 