Thur May 29th 2014 - Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco

Thur May 29th 2014 - Casablanca & Rabat, Morocco

Typical Morocco many many minarets

What a fabulous day. Other than a strange beginning. We were told that our clocks were to be set one hour back last night.. it was in the news letter with reminders on our bed ... but at 6am the Captain came on and announced that they did not in fact change. Janice happened to be up (at what she thought was 5:45 but it turned out to be 6:45) So we had only 45 minutes to get up, ready, breakfast, ablutions and off on our pre-arranged tour.... The announcement was only in the hall and anyone who was not yet awake would not hear it... hence panic was the order of the morning for many folk on the ship. We were fine, but wondering about a captain who couldn't get the time zones right... LOL.

The old and the new

Minarets call to prayer heard during the day

Army, Police and Palace guard outside Palace

Outside Palace gate..

Derek balancing column on head!! Palace

Our guide Niame

Ancient walls near Chellah

Entering Chellah

Anyway we were lucky to get great seats on the bus and a lovely tour guide, Niame. She gave us quite a good overview of Moroccan history, language and culture as we drove through Casablanca for the one hour+ ride to the capital city Rabat. Arabic and French are the two most common languages. The population is mostly Berber, who are more conservative that the Arab Moroccans, but they seem to live in great harmony and we saw that women wore a mixture of modern and traditions clothes, some with scarves, some without... their choice. The current King, Mohammed 6th and his wife Lalla Salma are very modern in approach and are big supporters of women and equality. The monarchy is very popular here.  In Rabat we were taken first to the Royal Palace for a photo op. Turned out to be an event when a police officer started to get his knickers in a twist about one of the people on the tour taking photos in the wrong place and then he started on our tour guide asking her for her I.D. papers and causing quite a ruckus.  One call into his radio brought a car and 4 'suits' emerged with dark sunglasses... things started to look a little tense.We were quite excited, but a little nervous.  A few Aussies on the trip decided to start booing and heckling...which we felt may not have been the most intelligent thing to do in the circumstances in a very strict Muslim country... but all ended peacefully and we were allowed to leave once the young man had deleted the photos from his camera!!! One of the suits got on the bus and apologised and told us we were very welcome in Morocco. How nice! On to the Chellah Necropolis... a beautiful spot where the remains of a royal dynasty from the 14th century were buried. We saw huge numbers of storks nesting in the ruins and enjoyed a beautiful view across the river. There were roman ruins on the site too.   On to King Mohamed 5th Mausoleum. What an amazing example of tile work and art. We were very impressed. Got a few photos inside and of the guards on horseback outside. Also next to the mausoleum, is the
Hassan Tower, the minaret of an incomplete red sandstone mosque. Begun in 1195, the tower was intended to be the largest minaret in the world along with the mosque, also intended to be the world's largest. In 1199, Sultan Yaoub al-Monsour died and construction on the mosque stopped. The tower is 140ft, about half of its intended height. Several walls and 200 columns were left unfinished.
Instead of stairs, the tower is ascended by ramps. The minaret's ramps would have allowed the muezzin to ride a horse to the top of the tower to issue the call to prayer.
 It was intended to be one of the biggest covered prayer halls in the world, but the columns remain outside and uncovered adjacent to the minaret tower. 

Storks nesting on old Minaret tower

The next stop was an old casbah  were we got the chance to enjoy a real Moroccan mint tea... and some almond cookies... wonderful. We walked through the old quarters of the casbah and saw local people who had come to mourn a recent death. Our guide was wonderful and very informative. We returned to Casablanca and went shopping in a "government store" where the price was the price, no haggling and no pressure. Souvenirs, spices, Tangine cookbook, silver earrings and a 'Fatima hand" pendant were suitably acquired. Memories of Morocco (meaning sunset) include the beautiful Jacaranda tress and four vibrant colours of  bougainvillea, stories about the Hammam baths and the benefits of Argane oil. 

More storks

Ruins at the Necropolis at Chellah

Our guide gave us her favourite Tangine recipe and her favourite way of making mint tea as we drove back to Casablanca. We decided not to explore further as we only had a couple of hours left and were not in to being hassled by vendors anymore. A slice of good pizza and a cold beer were calling our name on the ship. We were very happy with the day and glad we took the tour, despite earlier disappointing experiences with the tours. Our group was a small and lively bunch. We are planning on having dinner and then taking in the show... a singer called Paul Fredericks... fingers crossed he is good. 

Zoomed in view

Jacaranda Tree

Ancient etchings in the stone columns

Outside Mohamed v Mausoleum

Guard outside Mausoleum

Mohamed V Mausoleum

Friendly Guards

AMAZING tiled ceiling- all tiny tiles

The photo does not give this justice.. fabulous

Close up of the intricate ceramic tile work

Hassan Tower - incomplete mosque (1195)

Outside wall

Outside walls of Chellah

Getting ready for tea

Cheers

Our tea.. sweet and VERY hot

Beautiful ancient town

the old and the new

Blue walls - reflects sun easier on eyes

Bit of ancient wall.. just sitting there!

Washing.. just looked cool!!

Gravesite

Road workers camp by their worksite

Wish we could have made Marrakech - next time!

Shanty town

Hassan Mosque - Minaret Tallest in world at 210m

Hassan Mosque from bay.

Leaving Morroco

Wed May 28th - Sea day en route to Casablanca

Wed May 28th - Sea day en route to Casablanca

Craig Richard

Lucie working on the egg trick

Another lovely sea day. Weather is cooler and quite windy, but we enjoyed some down time and reading. Had great fun with Chris and Lucy at dinner (Tracy busy with university project) and the new entertainment on board was an instrumentalist musician from Colorado... Craig Richard. Has apparently played with Kenny G and a few others. Very talented young guy. A drink in the bar afterwards and one of the bartenders, Fernando, challenged us to a trick involving an egg and two shooter glasses... I might show you one day!!! Laughed a lot!!!  All set for clocks to go back tonight ...yey!!!

YES!!! She does it .... FINALLY!!!

Tuesday May 27th Santa Cruz de la Tenerife.

Tuesday May 27th Santa Cruz de la Tenerife

Our marriage started here over 42 years ago

Not changed at all!!!

 Volcano Mount Teide in the mist

Sand Art floor in Oratova

No organized tours for us today we were on a mission. We grabbed a cab and set off to Puerto de la Cruz. It felt like we were back in civilization, modern cars, paved not sandy roads and actual buildings without corrugated shacks. En route, we had a couple of scenic stops for photos and then on to the town of Oratova. We passed through the new town (took 45 seconds!) into the old town with its cobbled streets, narrow lane-ways, wrought iron balconies, stucco buildings and old world charm. We had the best Cafe con Leche at a small bar and then across the road we visited an artisan house which included some impressive lace-making. We purchased an Oratova valley wine. We drove through the Oratova valley, past vineyards and an amazing aqueduct, way above us high up in the valley.

OLE!!!!

Once upon a time....

Happy to come back to were we started

Arriving at the Las Aquilas hotel we had to take a breath. Yes it was in fact the Alta Vista where we honeymooned 42 1/2 years ago. There were many changes..it was now painted red not white, the dining room has moved, and the pool enlarged from a rectangle to be a free form infinity pool. But it was still our place, full of memories and emotions. Quite an amazing experience, to see it again after all these years. After spending some time wandering through the hotel reminiscing about the fun time we had there when we were just 19 and 25,  we drove down into the town of Puerto de La Cruz. We walked around the seafront for and hour and half and had lunch, including the Tenerife salted potatoes and local beer, Cruzcampo. The half litre of Sangria went down well too.

Front of the 'Alta Vista' now Las aquilas

Black volcanic sand in Puerto de la Cruz

Our lunch spot.. la Bodega

A toast to us !!

Returning to Santa Cruz, we said goodbye to our taxi driver and walked round a local market with incredible fresh meats and vegetables. Chris told us later that the meat was half the price of Aussie meat. Alas, we couldn't bring it on board anyway. We wandered on, past the presidential palace (an eyesore) a vinoteca (More wine supplies) the old fishermans church, and the Church de la Conception. Found a small bar and had a Mahou beer. Back on board had a cappucino on the panorama deck and waited for the sail away, watching latecomers race to the ship for the 4.30 deadline. Soon as we set sail we broke open the champers we'd been keeping, and passed some over to our neighbours Wendy and Horst in the next cabin who were also watching the sail-away on their balcony.(coincidentally they were married on exact the same day we were!!) We had a nice dinner with Tracy and Chris and enjoyed the slightly funnier entertainment (Comedian/singer David Copperfield...not the famous one). Off for an earlier night after a lovely day. 

Back in Santa Cruz interesting sculpture

Cheers !!!!

Santa Cruz - Large 'round' square.. HUH??

Back on board

Leaving Tenerife

Happy after a great day