We have managed to make it safely to Casablanca despite a couple of communication issues. Firstly the airline didn’t get the information that Joy needed gluten free meals. Whilst the flight attendants did their best to provide her with sustenance she had to look longingly at the range of fine fare that Adrian was provided with on the two flights.
The information counter was able to provide a phone number for our accommodation, and phew, we were booked in. We got the information desk to check the number for the tour company and found out we needed to put 0 on the front. The message we had been getting was “the number you are calling is not connected” or some such thing in Arabic. As it turned out the driver thought he had to pick us up at 7.30pm not 7.30am and he was still in Marrakech. So we got a taxi to the hotel and the driver arrived this afternoon and took us for a tour of the Hassan II mosque (the third largest mosque).
Our first impressions of Morocco are that the people are friendly and the driving is chaotic. But drivers are courteous unlike Canberra, traffic lights are observed unlike Cairo and drivers stop for people on pedestrian crossings unlike Rome. There is also no need for GPS or street directories. The system used by both our taxi and tour drivers is simply to ask the driver stopped along side you or a pedestrian how to get where you want to go. In the case of pedestrians if they don’t know they will conscript others to help. Despite a few U-Turns the system seems to work.
In addition to the mosque we also found some markets (with
Rick’s Café!) and the nearby streets are starting to fill up with vendors
selling all sorts of wares, so we are off to go exploring. At least we know the
system to get back to our hotel, if we get lost.
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