Above: View from my room, of the port.
Leaving Dubai
Today I fly from Dubai to Casablanca at 0750. It was an early start from the hotel. Despite having checked-in online last night, processing at the airport was slow even with just the bag-drop counter.
I had access to the lounge here at Dubai so dropped in for a light breakfast before boarding the Emirates flight to Casablanca. The scheduled flight time of 7h50 covers a distance that’s further than Dubai to London. Funny that despite all that distance to Casablanca, they still kinda speak Arabic albeit in a different form.
Quite unusually, the catering on Emirates was a bit light. They offered a continental breakfast and a hot lunch 3h prior to landing. I kinda felt peckish some time before the second meal.
The crew were also a little bit unprofessional. Due to extended turbulence, they collected in the meal trays after breakfast without being able to do coffee/tea. When they eventually did do a coffee/tea run much later, they said to passengers in an unpleasant tone “You should have kept your cup” and “You should have kept your creamer”.
Arriving at the White House
Arrival formalities at Casablanca airport was slow with long queues. Immigration asked questions, then baggage was screened before exiting.
The ATMs were a little temperamental and I succeeded getting local money on my third attempt.
It was more than an hour’s wait before I could scramble on a very high train (height of the train floor from the platform). Good luck to the infirm with luggage.
I had to change at Ain Seeba for Casa Port where it was a short walk to Hotel Central. The hotel is located in the old city or Ancienne Medina overlooking the port and the famous Hassan II mosque. Well, Casablanca being a modern city (in relative terms) is more of an entry point rather than anything of interest … and the the Ancienne Medina is a non-event after old Sana’a.
I took a walk in town and had my first tajine meal in Morocco for dinner. It was lamb cooked with prunes.
At the hotel reception, I ran into a Japanese girl from my flight. She had her camera snatched from her. Not a good introduction to any country. Good reminder for me to be vigilant.
By the way, Casablanca means White House, of course. The Arabic Name Al Dar Al Beydha has the same meaning.
Arabic vs French
What a pity, I don’t speak French. It is the second language here after Arabic. English is spoken by some, particularly those in the tourist trade. My Arabic isn’t that useful as they speak very differently here, after all, it is a long way away.
Anyway, I get by with a mix of reading French (with guesswork it is better than me reading Arabic) … then speaking English and/or Modern Standard Arabic (not the Moroccan dialect).