We were able to sleep in because we had a private guide to take just the two of us to El Jadida, a seaside town on the Atlantic South of Casablanca. The Kasbah (fort) was built by the Portuguese and overlooks the protected harbor. It is in very good shape.
The port has beautiful beaches and is a popular summertime destination for Moroccans. It is not the high season now, although the weather is perfect. We walked all through the Kasbah and then to the market where all kinds of vegetables, fish and meats were being sold. There were tables after tables of ladies selling Moroccan bread. We then walked to the end of the port for a lunch (my last Tagine in Morocco – I mistakenly thought). One of the highlights was visiting the cistern that you can walk down into. It has an opening to the sky at the top letting light in that reflects on the water below. You get a perfect reflection on the water. It is like a work of art. We loved being in it.
Our guide was great, spoke excellent English and we spent the day discussing all most all of the subjects one shouldn’t discuss (politics and religion). We never did discuss sex. He was a perfect host for us. Surprisingly from the back, as you can see in the picture, he looks just like Barack Obama. There has never been a picture of Barack smoking, maybe someone will pick this one up and use it. If you see it in some right wing blog, you will know it wasn’t really him.
I am writing on the airplane as we leave Morocco. I think we will return one day. We would only be interested in returning to Fes (preferably on a direct flight) and maybe spending some time in the South of Morocco in the Sahara Desert and visiting some tribal villages. The people here are extremely warm and nice. They are very pro-American (they were the first country to recognize America when we declared our independence). They are the only Islamic country that has cut off all ties to Iran. They have a rich cultural history very tied to Jewish life, and receive many Jewish travelers from all over the world. They consider the Jews and Berbers the original settlers of Morocco.
If you have never been to an Muslim country this is the one to start in.
I love Morocco too. I felt a rare kinship to the people. I also had a revelation while on the seaside of Casablanca, as I recalled swimming as a child in Florida on Hollywood Beach, and seeing the winds being carried off the Sahara desert that created a red horizon on the water. When I went to this seaside beach in Casablanca I recalled the experience, and it turned out that the beach I was standing at was at the exact coordinates as the beach in Florida, and because of that it was named Hollywood Beach as well. It's a small world after all!
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