Masato's Southern Europe/Morocco Africa Adventure

[Masato]

More exploring around Lisbon:


Took the kids for a ride around in these little 'Tuk Tuk' moto-rickshaws. They loved it

[Masato]

It was great that my Wife's father came with us...

Not just because he's a lot of fun and knows a lot of history etc... but because he would take many nights with the kids in the hotels, allowing me and my wife to go on dates to see nightlife.

Lisbon nightlife is pretty cool, alive with tons of little funky bars and restaurants and places to party.

We had dinner and strolled around for maybe an hour or 2, and was approached to buy drugs 12 times, lol (seriously)

[penxv]

Really cool stuff.

[Masato]

Part 2: Morocco AFRICA

This was the rush for me. I deliberately did ZERO research on Morocco, and wanted to go in as blind and with as few preconceptions as I could. I was not even quite sure exactly what language to expect to hear.

I was somewhat nervous (my mother told me 'ISIS is everywhere!" :) )... but chose instead to trust. I had never seen an Islamic country before, nor ever been on the African continent.



Much smaller plane from Lisbon to Casablanca:


Guy on our plane that looked uncannily like a shorter Dana White:


We got in late. This was the view from our hotel window of downtown Casablanca:


Some party with live Moroccan music and belly dancers going on in one of the lobbies:

[Masato]

In the morning we went exploring around Casablanca. Again, weren't worried about getting lost as there were taxis everywhere (which are super cheap), so we could always just get back to the hotel whenever.

The city is quite filthy, old and almost entirely lower-class people and small shops/markets everywhere. Yet after just a few blocks of walking there was this car parked. (what kind of car is this?) They let my son take a photo:





Local food market:




These are apparently sold not for food, but for purposes of 'white magic'. I did not get this confirmed


rabbits. I wonder if they were cats, lol (street cats were everywhere)




Theater still boasting the 'Casablanca' Hollywood movie. Don't let that film fool you, there is little romantic or elegant about this city. Its absolutely fascinating to visit as a westerner, but it really is perhaps the grimiest city I've ever seen.


However, a very modern street-rail system somehow runs its way through the midst of it all. Strange juxtaposition:


The 'beach' @ Casablanca. Its not even really sand, its just sort of dirt, lol:


We followed some kids riding horses from the streets down to the water:

[Masato]

[Masato]

A Bazaar in Casablanca where people would sell their wares:

Lots of tiny alleyways and secret squares filled with all kinds of stuff:






I didn't even know so many types of olives existed:



This was for sale as a laminated souvenir I saw:


Sacred geometry, bitches!! These pinecones were HUGE:




We took a taxi back, only to figure out he wasn't a taxi at all, just some dad who gave us a ride and scored a few extra bucks along the way, lol:
nice guy

[Masato]

OK: Morocco is a MONARCHY. They have a king.

Yet the governing of each city/region is apparently handled democratically. I do not understand it all.

On one hand it was boasted that school/hospitals and even universities are free... and that crime was extremely low (this rung true to me, as I felt surprisingly comfortable/safe... the people are kind, the energy is peaceful. Lots of religious elders everywhere, I think in many ways that when Islam calls itself a 'religion of peace' this is true.
- on the other hand I saw much poverty. We saw 'election' flyers around, with some of the candidates as women! I even heard that there is a party that exists which is promoting to separate or abolish the monarchy.

In any case, the King has a palace/offices in every city, and his photo adorns a GREAT many businesses and dwellings, not to mention the money.

This was a gate to just one of his royal palaces. There were so many I honestly lost track:



It was the same with Mosques; there were literally hundreds, all over. From any viewpoint in Morocco you could count the 'steeples', which like Catholic churches can be seen poking up from the tops of any village.



Beautifully decorated doors and doorways EVERYWHERE:




The detail of these doorways (as with almost everything in Morocco) was simply astounding. Was quite mind-boggling to think everywhere we went it was all painstakingly done by hand:

[Masato]

This was a CATHOLIC church.

Interestingly, I saw more black/african people in this one church than I did for the entire rest of my tour through Morocco. I can't explain why this is so



The biggest/most extravagant Mosque in Casablanca. An amazing work of Art and Architecture.







Morocco is FULL of street-cats. Yet to my surprise they are treated well. I saw even local business people at their shops in the market feeding them, giving them places to sleep, I never once saw anyone even shoo them away. Even here in this exquisite Mosque, they roamed freely:

[Megaterio Llamas]

Thanks for posting the pics Masato. you got some great ones. The Paul Harris monument was a nice touch I thought.