A Travellerspoint blog

CASABLANCA AND RABAT

and on to Fez

sunny 72 °F
View Morocco on HopeEakins's travel map.

The Hassan II Mosque dominates the coast in Casablanca and boggles the mind

344d9780-1bdf-11ec-be60-116314dc7a39.jpgThe photo does not do it justice. I was wrong in yesterday’s post: this is only the seventh largest mosque in the world – even so, it is not small! It holds 25,000 worshippers inside and 105,000 more on the outside terraces – that adds up to 105,000 at each service (must be why they don’t have bulletins!). It was built about 30 years ago by the father of the current king. Hassam II wanted to create a place

35e5c3b0-1bdf-11ec-ab97-832b540169ee.jpg where mind and heart would be drawn to God. He planted the foundation both on the earth and on the sea and invited Morocco’s finest craftsmen to decorate it. So the walls and floor shine with tiles of every kind; the retractable (!) roof opens at nighttime prayers so the stars can shine; the ablution room

357b4210-1bdf-11ec-ab97-832b540169ee.jpgis mammoth (only a tiny part shows in the photo), and many more fountains are inset on the exterior of the mosque.

We were fascinated by a demonstration of the intricacies of ablution. Worshippers come to a fountain and wash hands, then face, then head, then ears, then arms to elbows, then feet – some parts get washed once, some twice. Can you imagine 25,000 people doing this at the same time right before the service – five times a day? Not everyone complies, but everyone seems to accept the importance of this ritual cleanliness --- in a country where water is in short supply.

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aLutist.jpg After Casablanca, we were off to the capital city of Rabat, had a fine lunch in a garden, and then on to Fez where we have just unpacked at the Palais Faraj Hotel. I want to stay for a year! A lutist plays through our open window; we have a six room suite;

35593b20-1bdf-11ec-be60-116314dc7a39.jpgthe walls and floor are tiles as magnificent as the mosque, and we are just about to go up to dinner in the dining room at the top of the photo which overlooks the medina.

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Posted by HopeEakins 20:06 Archived in Morocco

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