Here's Lookin' At You, Kid.

Hassan II Mosque


This tower is the size of a skyscraper, I haven't seen a building this big since leaving New York


Exterior of the Mosque


Pretty fountain

Fountains for washing before Prayer

Pool in the basement of the Mosque. It's part of a Hammam that has never been used.

The ceiling of the Mosque

Gorgeous Rotunda

An example of more European architecture here

The film Casablanca being played in the second floor lounge at Rick's Cafe

10/24/09

Yes, that's right, I went to Casablanca today!

Casablanca is only an hour south of Rabat, so we decided to make a day trip there this weekend. There's not exactly a lot to do there, but we did see the famous Mosque and, of course, make a trip to Rick's Cafe.

Hassan II Mosque is one of two mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims, though in order to enter you must be with one of the scheduled guided tours led between prayer times. It was commissioned by the previous king and was paid for largely by contributions from the people of Morocco. He asked the citizens to give money for this, and our host mother told us that our host father and his business partner donated 1million dirhams (I'm pretty sure she actually said million and not mille, the French word for thousand - I will have to double check this number because that is quite a hefty sum). She told us it wasn't a tax or required to donate, but the people just did it...whether out of loyalty, love, or fear I don't know.

At any rate, the mosque is absolutely beautiful. It is built almost on top of the ocean, echoing a statement in the Quran which says that God's throne is built upon the water. You can see the ocean through beautiful huge doors which are ornately carved so that patterns of sunlight stream in. After six years of construction from 1987-1993, it stands as the largest building in Morocco. Over 6000 artisans aided in the designing of it.

The whole idea of building houses for God is so strange to me...yet all religions do it. Even the ancient ones which involve rituals with possession and all that...is that not just a way of offering your body as a house for God? I can't imagine God really cares about anything like that...but I guess everybody wants to make an offering of some kind. Standing inside this place where thousands of people come to pray 5 times every day I was thinking about how big your prayer would have to be to fill up all that space. You'd have to be capable of so much hope and belief...I can't help but be reminded of theatre.

Our tour guide was really funny, though I didn't understand most of his jokes - I managed to somehow get stuck in the tour led in French...so I only understood about 10% of what was being said, but I figured, what the heck, I need to practice listening to French anyway. He took us through the main room where the praying is done, then down into the basement where there is a hammam and a huge room of fountains. In case you don't know, it's required in Islam to wash yourself before you pray. As one Moroccan I met put it "Think about how you spend time getting dressed and ready to meet a good friend. If this is how you prepare yourself to see a friend, how much must you prepare yourself to converse with God?" Good point Jad, but I can't imagine many people from my hometown of Houston, let alone New Yorkers, stopping to wash and pray 5 times a day. It's such a different world.

And of course, we made the obligatory trip to Rick's Cafe. It's a total tourist trap, but we decided to go anyway just for the novelty of it. The restaurant was built after Casablanca became a big hit. They serve mostly American food (basically because we're the suckers to go there) and play the film nonstop on the second floor lounge. They also sell T-shirts, and while I was tempted to buy one, I passed on the opportunity.

You can definitely see the French influences in the architecture in Casablanca. Also there is a very big church there as well as many streets and schools named after Christian saints which is, as you might have guessed, very abnormal in Morocco. Another interesting phenomenon here was the group of young Goth Moroccan kids wearing Marilyn Manson T-shirts and moodily staring us down as we walked through the park. We may have found all the Moroccan Goths that exist in that one park, but ladies and gentlemen, they are real.

And with that trip done, I have been to all the major cities of Morocco!