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Morocco
1 December 2006, Casablanca, Morocco.
After a fairly long train ride from Marrakech to Casablanca -- OK, it was only three hours, but it really did feel longer! -- we arrived in Casablanca last night shortly after 10 p.m. Immediately, we were swamped by taxi drivers wanting us to get into their cabs. We tried to pick our own cab, but a big discussion broke out between all the drivers. Apparently, there was a line and maybe we should have taken the first cab in that line (which wasn't at all obvious), but the driver in the first cab was rude to us, so we tried to take a different one. The argument got so intense that a nearby police officer intervened and put us with a driver who wasn't involved in the impending melee. Once in the cab, the driver -- who spoke Arabic and French quite well, but English ... not so much -- tried to convince us to go to a different hotel than the one we selected from our guide book. He said the hotel we wanted wasn't good, etc., but as this is usually -- probably more than 90 percent of the time -- a ploy to take you to a hotel where the driver earns a commission, we smiled and said 'No, thank you.' In retrospect, he was probably only trying to get a better hotel at a better value for us, but we had to go with the statistically safe choice! The hotel we went to was OK, but we're sure there are nicer places for cheaper in Casablanca.
Yesterday, we spent the day in Marrakech, which is, in fact, a truly great city. It's probably as nice as any American or European cities, what with its excellent mix of ancient. It is a place we'd love to visit again. Unfortunately, we spent only 24 hours there, but we think it was enough to know we definitely want to go back soon!
-- Andy and Liza
Now, as a special bonus for you who read up to here, is a poem that was forced into Andy's head in the souqs and medinas of Morocco!
The Song of the Souq
“Monsieur, Monsieur!
Seņor, Seņor
Enter in my store!
Spices, Piel
No Precio de Turista!
Monsieur! Sir!
English?
Italiano?
Espaņol?
Monsieur, mi tienda!
Entra, por favor!”