Happy to be Traveling

Sunday. We started the morning with a Moroccan breakfast  (included with our room). Three kinds of bread. One a flat round made with semolina, one a sweet bread – like a light pound cake, and the final a thin round, looks like a bagel but flatter, almost cracker-like bread. An array of  jams, marmalade, and butter..Fresh squeezed…

As I shuffle into my dotage, I’ve become an aficionado of slippers.  I’m forever in search of the perfect pair, and I’ve always wondered how a curled pointy-toe pair of yellow Ali Baba specials would feel on my feet.  Where better to rub the magic lamp and see if my wish might be granted? Mohammed kept having…

Yesterday, when we got off a full-to-overflowing train from Casablanca (it’s the beginning of a week-long holiday for Moroccan families), we followed the crowd over the tracks into the taxi parking zone where two Moroccans were heatedly screaming at each other.  No blows were exchanged, but at one point they hung fire when one of them,…

On the train, one of the women told us “Casablanca, it is nothing”, with a flick of her wrist as one would do to shoo a fly. “Fes is the real Morocco.”  Keep that in the back of your mind and let’s see what unfolds. I mentioned there were four women in our compartment. All young…

Boy, for a travel day, the adventure expanded exponentially. Is it easy to take a train in Morocco? Sure. Quick taxi to the new Casa Voyeuger station in Casablanca, trains clearly listed on the big airport style display…well, anyway, there was no confusion. We got on the train, shared a first class compartment with 4…

I haven’t had a drink in years, and yet it was unnerving, in a city of millions where the busy streets are filled with activity, to walk block after block without seeing a single bar or liquor store.   Where were the beckoning neon signs, the glistening bottles behind glass, the beer joints catering to the Bukowskis…

After a refreshingly good night’s sleep, we went down to the breakfast buffet this morning. What a huge selection. Moroccan specialities along with some European standards. I wanted to try the famous Moroccan mint tea. Normally super sweet (I’ve heard), I took the no sugar choice. Delightful. Then off to Casablanca’s Medina (ancient market). A…

Our flights were thankfully unremarkable. Touch down in Casablanca and then the slow movement through passport control. We were overly confident that finding an ATM to withdraw a wad of Moroccan Dirham would be a snap. Not so much. I was vaguely surprised to see a Bank of Africa ATM.  “Unusual “, I thought. Until my…

Flying in: lots of leg room; flight 2/3 full; caught up with some movies, the best being Trier’s “The Worst Person In The World.” Landing at the extensive airport outside of Casablanca in a murky early morning mist to join a long snaking line of entrees at passport check-in.  Colorful group!  The Lagos contingent in their long…

We arrived in the crazy (so described by the locals) city of Casablanca this morning. As the sun was rising, our aircraft was descending into the Mohammed V airport located about 20 miles from Casablanca. And that my friends, is all I’ve got in me today. I promise tomorrow Grubb and I will regale you…

Here is a map and our itinerary. We are moving around more quickly than is usual for us – but hey – change is good.

October 19 – November 10. We explore Morocco. It’s our first time there and the first time on the continent of Africa.