Well after a long day of flying, our group has finally reached Morocco! We set out early in the morning in our stretch limo and had a layover in NYC, my home, and then flew out to Casablanca. The flight wasnt the best, but I cant complain because we are in Morocco finally!!
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| Mary, Emily, John, and me in the limo |
We go through immigration and board the bus, having a formal introduction to our tour guide Adi, our bus driver Tommy; and our luggage helper Hassan. As soon as I step off the plane I know that I am somewhere different-the smell of tropical air (and puerto rico to me) is all around me-but the weather is not as hot as I thought it would be. We leave the airport and make our way to the hotel in Casablanca. As we move along the beauty of the surrounding fields and woods fill me with the sense of relaxation, as there are not many cars clogging up the roads but rather people walking to their destination.
Along the road we learn select phrases to help us along with conversation formalitites. We get to the hotel in Casablanca, which looks very modern as far as architecture and way of life, and we are served mint tea in the reception area while getting our rooms worked out. Mint tea may sound weird, as I know I was not looking forward to it when I dont really like Mint to begin with, but whoever made this drink deserves a metal because it is truely amazing!! Making really good tea is actually considered a skill in Morocco and we have definitely had some of the best. After sleeping for an hour, oversleeping I should say as my roommate Rochelle and I found ourselves getting a call that the group was waiting on us in the bus, we made our way to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. It is one of three in Morocco that will allow non-Muslims to enter in between hours of prayer. We began to make our way across the vast courtyard, which was being used as a social hub by the local people, and I am immediately hit by the smell of sea salt that is blowing in from the beach behind the mosque. Once we get our tickets we begin our tour into the mosque. Upon entering we must discard our shoes, but luckily we have been provided with a plastic bag so that we can carry them around-dont know if I'd be too comfortable just leaving them unattended by the entrance. Our tour guide begins to take us through the grand halls, which expand extremely high in the center to a highly decorated roof, which we are told opens up to let in the light during the hotter days (but as it was fairly cold-enough so that we were wearing sweaters-the roof was closed). The mosque was It was designed by the french architect Michel Pinseau and has many different levels to the interior. The tour guide showed us the prayer area where the Imam would say the prayers. This section was precisely positioned to face towards Mecca (the East in the case of Morocco) so that they members would all be facing Mecca when praying. This painted an image in the minds of our group, as the tour guide stated that if one was to take a global picture of the various areas they would see people from all over facing towards the same area. To the left of this area was a balcony over the ocean that let in a breeze, the gates to this section were closed however, as it is only opened during hours of prayer. The beauty of this mosque is breathtaking, from the wood-worked archways shaped in intricate patterns to the brightly decorated ceilings to the encompassing strength of the stone foundations. This is further enhanced by the natural light that comes in from the balcony grand windows that line the building.
