Casablanca

Not as nice as Marrakesh, Cam and I were both ready to leave Casablanca today for Fes. It was a dirty city with few sights - we'd been warned about that, but wanted to see the Hassan II mosque. It did not disappoint. It's incredible and huge (can hold 20,000 worshippers) and is one of the few mosques that allow non-Muslims to enter...for $14.

Highlights from Casa:

• The mosque - we went at sunset and again for a tour the next day. Gorgeous. I'll link to Cam's pictures once he loads them.
• Realizing that we are such lightweights we can now get drunk off of 1.5 bottles of wine. Total, not each.
• Going to a real movie theater. We watched The Queen, dubbed in French. I'm pretty sure I caught the gist and missed a lot of the details.
• Walking in the "suburbs" of Casa, where the rich people hang out and all the beautiful beaches are.
• Having a hotel with towels and a TV.
• Eating tomato, basil and mozzarella salad. Yum.

Lowlights:

• While walking to a restaurant on the port I almost got punched. Some Moroccan guy came up to me, really slowly, and actually put his fist up to punch me. Luckily, my gallant boyfriend blocked it. It was really weird. We decided not to go to the restaurant and found a better-trafficked place to eat.
• Everyone ripping us off. Cab drivers not giving correct change, not using the meter, whatever. Everyone, everywhere asking for stuff and expecting us to just hand our goods over or buy their stuff. It's officially driving me nuts - I've turned into a bitch, constantly referring to menus to get the official prices, checking about the meter in every cab, counting my change, etc. Just this morning our hotel tried to charge us for 2 days breakfast that we didn't eat and I complained and got it fixed.
• Everything being expensive.
• Not that much to do. We did a lot of walking, but Casa is a bit like going to NYC and only walking around the Port Authority. Lots of crap to buy and people, but they are all just coming and going, but you don't want to hang out there.

Now we are in Fes, which is pretty cool, it has one of the oldest medinas and is considered the "cultural capital" of Morocco. It's freezing, though, so we haven't actually walked around! And it's really windy and a little rainy, which is the first time we've seen rain since October. We are so cold! According to the guidebook Fes is the hassliest place in Morocco, cause it's easy to get lost in the medina and anyone who gives you directions wants a prize. We'll just have to see. There are yummy restaurants and good hiking, so that should keep us occupied. Perhaps we'll be properly cultural and go to a museum.

After 3 days here we head to Chefchaouen, then to Seville for the last leg of the trip. I think it's been a good transition back to the developed world, one baby step at a time. Once I hit Spain I should be able to handle the US and all it's developed glory...I see Chipotle and malls in my future.