Day 7 - Adios Madrid, Salam Casablanca's King Hasaan II Mosque!

We left Madrid fairly early in the morning. Here's my mom and Ryan walking down Calle Arenal for the last time so we could catch our Iberia flight to Casablanca. Okay, I know he's my son, but seriously- the track suit and ski hat? Too stinkin' adorable. He looks like a miniature, jet-setting David Beckham.

The good 'ol days...when I could curl up and still fit into one seat!

We were met at the airport and transported to our hotel in Casablanca (quite a distance away), the Hotel Moroccan House. This hotel was one of two on the trip that I did not personally select/suss out, and oh. my. garsh.

The entrance is a little flashy, but you know...still beautiful. Still snap worthy.

The lobby is also a bit ornate and flashy. A little Saddam Hussein palace-like. But again...nothing over the top. 

And the ceiling is downright beautiful...so what exactly am I fussing about?

BAM!!! Welcome to the Pink & Purple Saudi Arabian Princess Palace! This was our bedroom.

I only wish I could truly capture how truly disturbing the room was. And if you still think it's not that bad...well then I guess you might think wiping your buns with hot pink toilet paper is 'normal'.

Because they had that too. (Of course they did.)

No really, the rooms were all very overdone and I was equal parts horrified and amused because of it. But I still loved the mezzanine dining room.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a beautiful mosaic in any culture. Even garish ones can pique my interest. I've been known to stop in urine-scented subway tunnels to admire wall art.

The place we visited next though, however, was stunning in its simplicity. The Hasaan II Mosque is one the most beautiful mosques I've ever seen (I've been to maybe 6-8 in Egypt and Turkey).

Hasaan II is the country's largest mosque, and the 7th largest mosque in the world (though it's minaret is the world's largest). It can hold 25,000 worshipers inside it's hand crafted marble walls, and accommodate another 80,000 outside. Here's what's most mind blowing- it's built over the Atlantic Ocean, and parts of the floor are made of glass. So you could pray on the ground while looking at the sea crashing below you. But that's not all- the roof is retractable, so you can also feel the rays of the sun on you as well. :-) Talk about worshiping in style!

It is somehow sprawling, massive beyond belief...and yet so indescribably simple and beautiful. I'll let my pictures do the talking (though you'll have to excuse my lack of photography skills and the limited capability of my cheap digital camera). :-)

I did not take this photo. Clearly. 'Cause it's awesome. But this it. It looks so tiny in this picture, but you'll get a better idea of how massive it is in the pics below.

The view as you approach the mosque. While we walked up to it, the muezzin was in the middle of a live call to prayer, which I thought was so cool for my parents to experience on their first trip to a mosque.

It's hard to tell how massive the doors/structure is in picture(s), but in this one, I had Rich and Ryan stand in front of the doors to give you an idea of the scale of the mosque.

Water fountains are symbolic of the way water was routinely collected (in villages) back in the day...here are a few at the mosque.

This is the women's entrance to the mosque (women do not worship in the same room as men. Non-Muslims are also generally not allowed in most mosques around the world. This one is a rare exception that will allow you if you're on a paid tour).

This picture gives you an idea of the size of the outer courtyard (which is where the additional 80,000 worshipers can fit).

While at the mosque, we walked over to the ocean and found this group of young men excitedly bringing in their haul of live octopus that they caught with a makeshift spear. They were more than happy to hot dog for our camera and my dad taught them the shaka. Here is one young man in the midst of whacking one octopus to the ground (violently, to bash his brains out).

Um...yum? This is how my dad used to live, so I think he liked watching the carnage. :-)

Casablanca was quite urban, touristy, traffic-prone...not really our scene. We stopped there entirely to see the mosque. Though we had some trouble getting the petit taxi drivers there to use their meters, it was nothing compared to what we would experience later in Fes & Marrakech (the drivers basically conspire to gouge visitors and universally refuse to use their meters and generally triple the normal fee).Very frustrating, but relative to what we earn, not anything to excessively stew over.

The very next day we left on a four-hour train ride (second class) to Fes (the ancient city). The train was quite ragged visually, but it ran remarkably on time and was very inexpensive ($12 per person). So no complaints there!