In Al Jedida I thought that we would get off the bus at a bus station, but The Gherkin was like this is it. Off we got beside a service station by a roundabout. I guess I shouldn’t expect to go to a luxurious place such as a bus station when the bus we were on was pretty damn close to a chicken bus. There were no live chickens on it but I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were. It was old it was crowded and it was supposed to take 4 hours but took 6 ½ long slow cramped hours.
Getting off I felt quite lost as there was only a creepy guy who would grab us wanting money. Yeah not the way to get me to cough up any cash. I was just like erk what kind of place am I in???
We walked in a random direction and found the bus station and then a nearby hotel.
We did try to find the sea but with an obviously impaired sense of direction we never came across it. We did find a supermarket with the most amusingly named Pringles type chips named Kracks. Yes I want to eat some Kracks. Don’t you want to taste some Kracks too?
The next day we caught a bus to Casablanca. It sounds so romantic but I have never seen the film (that wasn’t even shot there anyway). We went to an information centre to see what there was to do there and got talked into taking a tour.
We went to the mosque the next morning, obviously looking like fresh off the boat tourists since a taxi driver tried to get our business offering us the low low price of 10 Euros! As if!!
The Gherkin went for the mosque tour but I wasn’t that interested so I watched our bags and read my book (before and after) in the shade.
The Gherkin returned and we met our tour guide. He was a nice old fellow named Lucky.
The tour consisted of seeing:
The guide gave us each:
A Casablanca postcard A keychain
At the end of the tour we were dropped off at the station to catch a train to Rabat.
It was a nice new train but when the Gherkin jumped off the train and I followed we found out that we were at the wrong station!
There are two and we got off at the first one instead of the second. So we decided to have some food at the station café. We ordered and didn’t get any food so ordered again. The Gherkin got his food but I didn’t get mine. So I tried to ask the waiter for my fries again. But the fries Nazi waiter had decided that there would be no fries for me! I was most upset and gave the chips czar the evil eye, I hope its international the Gherkin says the finger is but I wasn’t that brave.
I did ask why I couldn’t have fries, they were on the menu and the gherkin’s meal came with fries. But the waiter wouldn’t give an answer, I think he just didn’t know how to say “no fries for you”!
We got a taxi to the area we wanted to stay in (right near the other station of course).
At dinner I ordered cheeseless pizza and fries. The pizza arrived but no fries. It’s like the underground waiter network is conspiring to keep the fries from me. Damn you fries Nazi and your surprisingly long reach!
The Gherkin wanted to rest so I went for a walk alone.
I went to find the Hassan tower and mausoleum. It wasn’t as far as I thought it would be and as is my custom I met a random stranger on the way.
I was just past 1st November square, where I ogled at the oddness of naming places after dates. The local guy was on the street and I was looking at my map and he asked if I needed help. I was just like that’s the mausoleum right? Where do I enter? So he walked with me and I got him to be my personal photographer.
He said he lived across the river in Salé and wanted to take me there but I do have my stranger following limits!
So we just walked along the waterfront to the Kasbah des Oudaias.
The nice strange man bought me a glass of the lovely Moroccan fresh squeezed orange juice. It got dark and we walked back to my hotel through the medina.
The guy was in the army and insisted on walking me to see the outside of the royal palace he guarded. It really wasn’t impressive from the outside and he wouldn’t sneak me in.
The next day the Gherkin was supposed to go sightseeing with me but he was in slacker mode and didn’t want to. I was glad I saw what I wanted to see the night before.
So we just got a train to Meknes. I got the tickets and just automatically got second class. So we were crowded in with our backpacks and no seats. It was a long game of sardines but I eventually got a seat in a compartment. The Gherkin had a longer game as he was stuck in the aisle the whole time.


