the infamous casablanca

premonition - somehow sorta knew my luggage would not arrive. Spent 2 hrs at the Casablanca airport filing a missing luggage report. Said it would arrive in a later flight. Delta out of SFO was 1.5hr late. So much for my comfortable 2.5 hrs layover at JFK. I dont think I'd be flying Delta again. That's the second time their planes had mechanical problems that caused delay and hassle for me. But somehow I also felt I would get my luggage in the end. My driver was generous enough to take me to the Hassan II Mosque, which although all tours were done for the day, I got to at least walk around the outside and take some pictures. In retrospect, I should have walked along the beach a bit and get a nice pict of the entire place, perched on an outcrop by the Atlantic. Should have also asked to take me to the Anfa mall and see if the Starbuck had the country mug. Ah well. The driver also brought me coffee and a bottled water. The woman he dropped off first, spoke French, married to a Portuguese and just returned from Lisbon. What a coincidence. She dressed well, perfumed body and blonde hair. Her house (or villa?) had a driveway up to a gate. The house itself was hidden from view. A local opened the door. Maid? Yes, the French speaking community was without doubt the rich upper cast. My hotel was in a shabby part of town, just like tripadvisor warned. Small room but clean and with a balcony that overlooked the narrow street and faced the houses across the street. Luckily Aziz, our local guide, had to go pickup the Brits at the airport so I went along to pick up my luggage. Otherwise it would be $100 for the roundtrip taxi. 45 mins from the hotel to the airport. So bone tired. Been up for over 30 hrs now. Too bad there was no time to really see Casablanca. But aside from the Mosque, there's really nothing else to see here. This was just a starting point for the trip. But "Why did you have to come to Casablanca? There are other places."


see Casablanca pictures