July 13, 2012
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07.07.2012 Fly west. Do more.
The taxi picked me up at 4.00AM in Fujairah to take me to Dubai Airport. Can’t drive, of course. The parking fee at the airport would be something like, let’s see, $1,400 for seven weeks. Cheaper with a taxi.
The only remarkable thing before taking off in the Emirates Boing 777 heading for Casablanca was the sheer volume of people at Dubai Airport around 5.30 on a Friday morning. I think I counted 27 people queuing up for coffee at one of the Starbucks outlets. I guess everybody is leaving the UAE today.
I love flying Emirates Airlines. I watched three movies (out of the 200+ movies available), ate well and napped for a bit during the nearly eight-hour flight. Emirates was actually priced really competitively for the Dubai-Casablanca route. Just a tad above AirArabia in fact.
So, why am I in Casablanca? Well, my sister is here. When she told me she was booking a trip to Morocco, I decided to swap my travels around a bit and make Morocco my starting point. Besides, last time I was here was in 1983.
With a three-hour time difference and a late sunset in Morocco, I feel I’m getting two days for the price of one. When the sun had already set in Fujairah, my sister and I sat down for a shared couscous meal in traditional Moroccan style. Delicious. Best ever. Sharing with a Moroccan family, we ate from the section of the huge plate pointing in our direction. Fun. And less washing up.
Next on the agenda was a sightseeing tour of Casablanca. The Mohamed II Mosque was stunning, with, I was told, the world’s tallest minaret. Certainly looked it. We also walked along the corniche – where, according to my Lonely Planet Morocco guide for Kindle, the young and pretty things of Casablanca enjoy themselves at the weekend. By the time the sun was setting in Casablanca, I was a tad woozy. But we had coffee by the sea and an orange sky to go with it, so I managed to stay awake.
We also managed to fit in a visit to the Morocco Mall as well as take in the City Hall by night. But by that time – it was now nearly midnight Moroccan time – I was only partially awake. With ice cream from Oliveri just before bedtime, we’d had a perfect day in Casablanca.
I just can’t believe it was this morning I left Fujairah in a taxi! You can certainly do more in a day when you fly west.
Comments (2)
It is funny the way time expands and contracts.
Casablanca has a magic name …..thanks to Hollywood, what is a shame in a way. There must be more important things then ‘Play it again Sam’
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@carlo - Agree, Carlo. There are a lot of other things to see in Casablanca that are more important. However, for many Westerners unfamiliar with Marocco, it’s a point of connection that is fairly familiar.