Casablanca Was Freed By Nature

Apparently the name "Casablanca" comes from when the Spanish settled in the city and not from the Portuguese like our taxi driver told us. When it comes to historical accuracy, I believe our tour guide over a random taxi driver. The city was also called "White House" in Arabic before the Spanish came.  The Europeans who…

If You Take My Picture, It’s 10 Dirhams. Marrakesh, the Red City

We started off the day in New Marrakesh, the part of the city that was built by the French in the 1900s. Marrakesh has a unique look; No building is higher than 6 floors because they do not want any building towering over the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque, which is the symbol of Marrakesh.…

Do Moroccans Celebrate Christmas?

For the most part Moroccans are Muslim so I didn't expect to see really any Christmas decorations while in vacation. To my surprise there are Christmas trees in the airport and hotels, which I suppose are catering to international clients many who celebrate Christmas. But I was most surprised about the Christmas decorations in the…

Balak! The Old Medina of Fez

There are four cities that once were the capital of Morocco: Fez, Rabat (the current capital), Meknes, and Marrakesh. Fez is the oldest capital and was founded by Idriss II son of Idriss I (who founded Moulay Idriss near Meknez.)  Today began with a panoramic view of Fez and where our guide provided an explanation…

Why Are There So Many Cats in Morocco? Rabat and Volubilis

Merry Christmas Eve from Fez! I wrote this post yesterday, but was having trouble with the internet.  Now that it's solved here's the post on Rabat, Meknes, and Volubilis.  Royal Palace Today we began our tour in earnest. Our first stop was to see the outside of the Royal Palace in Rabat, which is surrounded…

Parlez-vous Français? First Impressions of Rabat

Rabat is much bigger than Casablanca. I suppose this makes sense because it is the capital. We arrived around lunch time and checked into the hotel which is much nicer than the one in Casablanca probably because it was booked through the tour company so it's fancy. Because we are cheap we did not go…

Casablanca, Morocco

We landed in Morocco yesterday morning and after a bit of confusion found our bags at the airport and our driver who took us into the city of Casablanca.   The plane ride was fine. We flew Royal Air Maroc. Everyone was nice and all the stewards speak Arabic, French and English. They even give you…