Monday, 31 May 2010
Hot In Here/Casablanca
We woke up especially early to catch a glimpse of the Atlas Mountains before the intense sun obliterated any sign of them in the horizon. Even then, we could barely see the peaks before the morning sun rendered any further sighting impossible. After breakfast, we set out to find Palais el Bahia and after many twists and turns and wrong directions given (and burning most of my breakfast calories), we finally reached the Palace. The entrance fee was dirt cheap at 10 Dirham (less than a Euro). The palace was built in the 19th century and was intended to be the greatest palace of its time. After that, we sauntered to Dar Si Said, a grand palace albeit a smaller version of Bahia (built by the same family as the Bahia) and which now houses the Museum of Moroccan Art. The entrance fee was also 10 Dirham.
After that, we strolled to Djemaa el Fna for one last look. We also did another round of henna tattoo before walking back to our guesthouse to check out. We managed to hail an old Mercedes taxi (not a petit one for once!); it cost us 40 Dirham to the train station. At the train station, we bought first-class tickets for the 1300 train bound for Casablanca.
Lunch was had at KFC (I know, I know. But it was either that or McDonald’s). I packed my unfinished chicken and fries. After that, we walked to our carriage, boarded the train and bade goodbye to Marrakesh. There were a man and a woman in our carriage so no chance for stretching out then. And my, it was a hot, hot ride! So stuffy. It was like we were in a hamman or a banya!
We arrived at Casablanca at 1610 and took a cab to our hotel (we also arranged with the driver for someone to pick us up the next morning). At that hour, it felt like Marrakesh and I felt like a human kebab minus the skewer. It was THAT hot!!!
Our hotel overlooked a square, a road and beyond that, the port of Casablanca. We ventured out after 6 pm and walked in the winding alleys to the medina. And my, what a disappointment it was. Seriously, in terms of cities and souk and atmosphere, Fès ranks the highest (let’s say 9.8 out of 10), Marrakesh in second place (7.8 out of 10) and Casablanca in the distant third (4 out of 10). (Oh and we discovered bed-bugs too the following morning so that should bring down the rating even further.) Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything at the souk. We returned back to the hotel by another route and after climbing up to the rooftop, retired in our room for the rest of the evening.
To be continued
~~~~~~~~
I love footie upsets and I try to support the underdogs whenever I can. La Roja, La Furia Roja and host Bafana Bafana were in action last night. La Roja were the Red Hot Chile Peppers beating Honduras by a goal. There was to be no Spanish Inquisition though as the Swiss Roll-ed on and Bafana Bafana lost to a strong Uruguay side. I was rooting for the Swiss because I (still) am angry with some Barcelona players (and there are six of them on the Spanish squad) for being bigmouth disrespectful dolts (all that talk about Cesc’s Barcelona DNA with no regard whatsoever to his long-term contract at Arsenal. Oh, and now they’re thinking of bringing in Torres? Dream on, Barcelona!). You should have just focussed on the World Cup but no, instead you chose to talk about why Cesc should leave Arsenal (Cesc, you can foresee spending your time on the bench as you did last night if you go to Barcelona). Well, they were complacent, cocksure, overconfident and arrogant as only the Spaniards can be. Diego Benaglio, you were brilliant. Kudos to Hitzfeld for getting it right especially as Spain had no Plan B. So Pique bleeding all that Barcelona DNA on the pitch was for naught.
I’ll still be watching to see how far Spain can progress at the world stage; they had always been labelled as underachievers (as the Portuguese are) but hey they did win the European Championship two years ago so let’s see. After all, it’s only their first match and surely still too early to tell - although history shows that a team that lost its opening match never won the World Cup. So, the pain in Spain ... falls mainly on the World Cup.
Wenger has lent his thoughts as to why the World Cup this edition has been boring. Well, I thought last night’s Spain-Switzerland match was entertaining. Arseblog agreed too: ‘Most enjoyable game of the tournament so far, by a long way. Stats confirm Xavi’s DNA was 93% Djemba-Djemba today.’
Hot In Here/Casablanca
We woke up especially early to catch a glimpse of the Atlas Mountains before the intense sun obliterated any sign of them in the horizon. Even then, we could barely see the peaks before the morning sun rendered any further sighting impossible. After breakfast, we set out to find Palais el Bahia and after many twists and turns and wrong directions given (and burning most of my breakfast calories), we finally reached the Palace. The entrance fee was dirt cheap at 10 Dirham (less than a Euro). The palace was built in the 19th century and was intended to be the greatest palace of its time. After that, we sauntered to Dar Si Said, a grand palace albeit a smaller version of Bahia (built by the same family as the Bahia) and which now houses the Museum of Moroccan Art. The entrance fee was also 10 Dirham.
After that, we strolled to Djemaa el Fna for one last look. We also did another round of henna tattoo before walking back to our guesthouse to check out. We managed to hail an old Mercedes taxi (not a petit one for once!); it cost us 40 Dirham to the train station. At the train station, we bought first-class tickets for the 1300 train bound for Casablanca.
Lunch was had at KFC (I know, I know. But it was either that or McDonald’s). I packed my unfinished chicken and fries. After that, we walked to our carriage, boarded the train and bade goodbye to Marrakesh. There were a man and a woman in our carriage so no chance for stretching out then. And my, it was a hot, hot ride! So stuffy. It was like we were in a hamman or a banya!
We arrived at Casablanca at 1610 and took a cab to our hotel (we also arranged with the driver for someone to pick us up the next morning). At that hour, it felt like Marrakesh and I felt like a human kebab minus the skewer. It was THAT hot!!!
Our hotel overlooked a square, a road and beyond that, the port of Casablanca. We ventured out after 6 pm and walked in the winding alleys to the medina. And my, what a disappointment it was. Seriously, in terms of cities and souk and atmosphere, Fès ranks the highest (let’s say 9.8 out of 10), Marrakesh in second place (7.8 out of 10) and Casablanca in the distant third (4 out of 10). (Oh and we discovered bed-bugs too the following morning so that should bring down the rating even further.) Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything at the souk. We returned back to the hotel by another route and after climbing up to the rooftop, retired in our room for the rest of the evening.
To be continued
~~~~~~~~
I love footie upsets and I try to support the underdogs whenever I can. La Roja, La Furia Roja and host Bafana Bafana were in action last night. La Roja were the Red Hot Chile Peppers beating Honduras by a goal. There was to be no Spanish Inquisition though as the Swiss Roll-ed on and Bafana Bafana lost to a strong Uruguay side. I was rooting for the Swiss because I (still) am angry with some Barcelona players (and there are six of them on the Spanish squad) for being bigmouth disrespectful dolts (all that talk about Cesc’s Barcelona DNA with no regard whatsoever to his long-term contract at Arsenal. Oh, and now they’re thinking of bringing in Torres? Dream on, Barcelona!). You should have just focussed on the World Cup but no, instead you chose to talk about why Cesc should leave Arsenal (Cesc, you can foresee spending your time on the bench as you did last night if you go to Barcelona). Well, they were complacent, cocksure, overconfident and arrogant as only the Spaniards can be. Diego Benaglio, you were brilliant. Kudos to Hitzfeld for getting it right especially as Spain had no Plan B. So Pique bleeding all that Barcelona DNA on the pitch was for naught.
I’ll still be watching to see how far Spain can progress at the world stage; they had always been labelled as underachievers (as the Portuguese are) but hey they did win the European Championship two years ago so let’s see. After all, it’s only their first match and surely still too early to tell - although history shows that a team that lost its opening match never won the World Cup. So, the pain in Spain ... falls mainly on the World Cup.
Wenger has lent his thoughts as to why the World Cup this edition has been boring. Well, I thought last night’s Spain-Switzerland match was entertaining. Arseblog agreed too: ‘Most enjoyable game of the tournament so far, by a long way. Stats confirm Xavi’s DNA was 93% Djemba-Djemba today.’
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