We have an even more abbreviated stay in Casablanca. We arrived this afternoon and leave tomorrow morning. Fortunately we are gaining some level of comfort with the geography, the people, and how to do things. Some. More importantly though, we met up with Hassan, our Morocco guru!

The first part of the day was our new routine- we had a good breakfast at our hotel (in Tangier), we packed up, and we walked 5 minutes to the train station. We then got on the high-speed train to Casablanca.. This one was even faster than the one from Madrid to Sevilla (this one maxed out at 320kph!).

We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel, then walked 1 mile to the Hassan II Mosque on the coast. It is huge, and made especially so since we walked toward it for so many blocks. The ornate details on the sides are incredibly intricate as well. It is poised on the top of the costal cliffs.

Hassan picked us up from the mosque and showed us the costal area. There we went into the Morocco Mall, which houses a huge aquarium tank.

We then met up with Hassan’s lovely girlfriend, Kenza, at a wonderful restaurant called La Sqala. They have a wide array of Moroccan dishes so we got several different tajines and shared.

Almost all of the dishes were excellent, with tender meat and complimentary roots and vegetables. Steve made another feline friend and managed to spoil it rotten with left-overs at the table side. His shrimp risotto wasn’t great for him and they seem to be far less discriminating.

Our desserts were Moroccan spins on familiar dishes. Delicious.

What a great evening with friends, old and new and.. a little less new!