Morocco (1)

I shall split my trip into several parts. So the first part is the first week I spent in Morocco, yes, my first time in the Africa continent.

In my opinion, Morocco is not exactly the type of big tourist places that people will want to go. They don’t exactly have ‘major’ attractions, and if you will like to see more fantastic Moorish architecture, southern Spain is better. But, it is really interesting as the way their cities are built and laid out, as well as their lifestyle is something that is radically different from what we can find in East and Southeast Asia, as well as in Europe.

But if you plan to visit Morocco, Marrakesh is a good place to visit. The main tourist attractions there are the Koutoubia mosque (left), which really stands out there and Djema El Fna, which is their central city square. It was indeed an experience trying to navigate their souks, or markets, for the way the streets are laid and organised renders most maps useless. In fact, none of the maps which their tourist office provides actually showed the many small sidewalks. So ya, I must say that you do feel lost inside their markets. Marrakesh is certainly a good place to relax and just let time flies – there’s Club Med there too, so it is a good place to just chill. Oh it is also close enough to the Sahara desert and the Atlas mountains, so it is a good place to start from if you plan to go to those places. Oh yup, the place on the right is the ruins of the former El Badi Palace, which meant incomparable.

Casablanca is relatively boring. Although it is the most famous city in Morocco, it is not the capital city, and they only have one significant tourist attraction – Hassan II Mosque. I must say it is really remarkable, as it is the world’s second largest mosque and it has the world’s tallest minaret. There’s a retractable roof, and they have huge pillars of ‘thirsty hippo’ to absorb the moisture. Yes, the pillars you see in the bottom right photo are made of a material that helps to absorb moisture.

Aerial view of Casablanca

By the way, you can see the Atlantic Ocean too! Haha, the first time in my life to see the Atlantic. Rabat, the capital city, offers a fantastic view of the ocean, and you can see the waves in all their glory.

Oh, Rabat is much more interesting as they have a necropolis, a mausoleum for their previous king, Mohammed V, and plenty of other interesting sights and sounds. Their ancient medina (city) is also far more easier to navigate than the other places I went.

Oh that's the ruins of the necropolis on the left.Thats the Hassan Mosque, which is close to 1000 years old.