Sunday, March 17, 2024

CMN-KUL

Sun 11/2/24

We would be heading home today from Casablanca. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Casablanca airport, 35 km away via the highway with the toll costing 6 MAD which we paid by cash. Before returning our rental car at the airport, we filled the tank at a nearby petrol station. 

We returned the car at Avis which is located near to Terminal 2. From there, we walked to Terminal 2 where it is accessible to walk to Terminal 1 inside the building. We exchanged back all our remaining Morroccan Dirham cash to EUR (547 MAD to 48 EUR) as it was illegal to bring the Morroccan currency out of the country (same like in Tunisia). Our wallets were checked by the officer to ensure there is no Morroccan money brought out. The transaction in the shops in the airport terminal are all in EUR. 

Avis near to Terminal 2 CMN airport

As we still have a few hours before our flight, we checked into the Royal Maroc Air lounge. The food served tasted good, I had a helping of the beef skewer, spinach pasta, quiche and samosa. 

beef skewer and spinach pasta


Again, for the CMN-DOH sector, we were seated with extra legroom, thanks to the Qatar Airways call centre who helped to secure the seat with no charge. However, the in flight entertainment device was stuck (could not be lifted), so I used Partner In Crime's device, while Partner sat at the aisle seat as there was no one seated there. Our flight was delayed by an hour, an we landed at Doha 2 hours behind schedule due to heavy rain. Our flight made 5 turns around Doha before finally landing which was received by claps from fellow passengers. 

salmon with black glutinous rice for lunch on Royal Maroc

chicken with rice for lunch on Royal Maroc


muffin, yogurt and chicken sandwich for snack on Royal Maroc


We did still have an hour left to check in at the Qatar Airways lounge before boarding. However, it turned out that our flight back from DOH-KUL was also delayed. We waited at the boarding gate for almost 2 hours and finally take off at 5am. For the inflight meal, I had red thai curry chicken with rice while Partner In Crime had wok fired noodles with dumplings, the same meal we had during our flight in December 2023. We landed at KUL at 5.15pm, almost 2 hours behind schedule.

prayer room at Doha Qatar Airways lounge

red thai curry chicken with rice

wok fired noodles with dumplings

sandwich for snack on Qatar Airways

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Casablanca

 Fri 9/2/24

After breakfast at Guest House Imdoukal, we made our way to Casablanca, a long journey of 325km. The stretch of road from our guesthouse to Demnate was better compared to yesterday, although we did have to drive a bit slower than on a national road. According to Abdul, the area from our guesthouse towards Demnate is located in a different municipal, hence there was more budget allocation for road repair and maintenance. 

It was also forecasted to rain today, after a long time. According to Abdul, his village was on drought since the last few years, less crops were cultivated and hence more villagers left to the city to look for jobs, including Abdul himself. It already started to rain when we left the guesthouse at 10am and continued on for the rest of the day until we reached Casablanca.

leaving the High Atlas

leaving the high Atlas

drizzling

leaving the high atlas



arriving at Demnate, at the foot of High Atlas mountain

picnic area near Demnate

arriving at Demnate town

We drove through a mix of village and national roads today before going into the highway at Settat, just a short stretch of about 90km to Casablanca from the total journey of 325km. Toll cost 22 MAD which we paid by cash. Thankfully we were not stopped by any gendarmerie today, perhaps also as it was raining. We stopped twice today to get coffee at a petrol station and to copy the recording of our dashcam halfway through our 7.5 hours journey. The view for today's journey was not really interesting after Demnate, plus it was also raining so there were no stops to take photographs. 

flat terrain after Demnate

flat terrain after Demnate

toll ticket

We finally arrived at our hotel Premier Classe Casablanca at 5.30pm. We booked thorugh booking.com which cost MAD 850 (RM 412) for 2 nights with breakfast and free basement parking. 

room at Premier Classe Casablanca

It was still raining that night, so for dinner we didn't walk too far and had tagine kofte (30 MAD) and brochette viande (skewered beef with rice for 45 MAD) and water (5 MAD) at a café nearby. We also bought some oranges and banana from the opposite fruit stall for 24 MAD. Then we walked back to our hotel to rest for the day.

tagine kofte and brochette viande (skewered beef with rice) 

Sat 10/2/24

Today's breakfast at the hotel was buffet style, which starts from 7am to 10am. We had scrambled eggs, croissant, bread, mint tea and coffee (from the coffee machine). After breakfast, we walked along the tram line route, first stop was Central Marketplace (Marche Central) where there were seafood and nuts stalls, United Nations Square, Mohamed V Square, Arab League Park and Sacred Heart cathedral.

buffet breakfast


United Nations Square

Casablanca tram

Mohamed V Square


Arab League Park

Arab League Park

Marche Central entrance

food stall at Marche Central

vegetables and fruits at Marche Central


Then we walked back towards the United Nations Square to go to the medina market where I bought a scarf for my mom.  From the medina, we walked towards the Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean via the seaside route. 

Casablanca Medina entrance

Casablanca medina

Casablanca medina


We performed our prayers at the Hassan II mosque which was free entrance for those who came to perform prayers. Tourists would need to pay an entrance fee to visit  the mosque. 

It was a total of 7.3 km of walking one way! Our legs were feeling tired already so the visit to the mosque was a welcoming rest for us while we also get to sit and perform our prayers.

Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean

Hassan II mosque by the Atlantic Ocean

Hassan II mosque

male prayer hall

male prayer hall

female prayer hall

female ablution room

Atlantic ocean


After prayers, we went back to the medina via a short cut from La Sqala into the maze of the medina. We had lunch of a local dish which we didn't know the name and just showed it to the waitress. It only cost 25 MAD. At the next door Petite Tarte boulangerie we bought some croissant, pastry and local desserts for MAD 56.5 We also bought coffee latte (MAD 10) and iced coffee (MAD 10) for takeway from a small coffee joint.

"Rick's Cafe" from Casablanca movie (although it was not filmed in Casablanca)

park near La Sqala


lunch peas and chicken


Petite Tarte boulangerie

Petite Tarte boulangerie

coffee stall


After that, we went back to one of the stalls at the medina to buy local Moroccan robes and back to Central Marketplace to buy walnuts and almonds. I suddenly felt thirsty and wanted to have mint tea, so we went to the nearest café there at Boulevard Mohamed V while watching the finals of the football Asia Cup with the locals. 


watching the finals of the football Asia Cup with mint tea


After a long day of walking (about 15 km total!) we finally went back to our hotel to take a short rest and unload the stuff we bought. Then we walked a bit more to the boulangerie Antouki to buy some local almond biscuits (65 MAD) and then had dinner at Dar Al Mashawi for 95 MAD. 


last dinner in Morocco


It was then a wrap for the day to pack our bags as we would be leaving Morocco tomorrow.

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