Searching for Mr. Bogart and the hill of beans

El Jadida was a short stop over on the way to Casablanca. Many people told us to skip Casablanca but we are glad we did not miss it. We would have not met some wonderful people who crossed our path. We decided to have the day to discover the medina and the old city before contacting our couch surfing host. It is one of the smallest Medinas in Morocco ... at least in a large city. The walk in the Medina was very peaceful as we watched everyday Moroccan life unfold before our eyes…including the beautiful voices of children singing in the class room. Casablanca is the centre of commerce so as such it had a lot of high rise buildings housing the big corporations. The hotels in the city centre were very ordinary to say the least but it was clean enough and a cheap roof over our heads. It had a lot of French colonial architecture and was sorely in need of a good lick of paint but that is the beauty of the place. It certainly did not have the feel of what one would imagine. We discovered the Mosque to beat all mosques…well actually it was the third largest mosque but was the tallest building in Morocco. It was awesome to see it. It was started in 1980 by King Hussan the current Kings father and cost half a billion to build. All the money was ‘donated’ at the cost of 10 dirhams per head..just over $1.00 per person. It is indeed a spectacle even from the outside. It has carved stone, marble and mosaic tiles around the minaret. It has a laser beam that beams to Mecca. Inside it can take 25,000 to pray and 80,000 in the courtyards. It is built over reclaimed land and so the prayer room has central heated floors and glass floors to look down upon the Atlantic. It also had a retractable roof. Inside the prayer hall you could fit Rome’s St.Peters or the Paris Notre Dame. The plaza and surrounding colonnades and buildings all had different ceramics over the wall. It is starting to disintegrate a bit due to the proximity to the sea. Restoration work was going on around and inside the Mosque. We sat waiting for the call to prayer which we have enjoyed listening to 5 times a day. It was inspiring to listen to the reciting of the Koran even if we did not understand it. Men and women came from all over the city most with their prayer mats. They pray separately.
Next, off to Ricks Café the remade scene of the setting for the movie Casablanca. I thought we would walk into some tacky remake and a very touristy place but not so. It was remarkably serene and so we decided to have lunch there sitting next to “the Piano” It was a classy joint run by Americans. It was the most beautiful interior to dine in and was silver service all the way. If we ate like that in Australia it would have cost a fortune. The staff were gracious and funny so it was a great experience. Upstairs the setting of the bar and everything that went with it. They even have the movie running continously with sub titles. Humphrey, Ingrid ,Sam were nowhere in sight. Back out to reality. It was weird to go back out to the noise and traffic after that. The next morning we were to meet Fouzia at her home.