La Tour Hassan is the tall red sandstone tower, a minaret that was supposed to be the largest minaret in the world, with what was supposed to be the largest mosque in the world. Unfortunately, the Sultan in charge died in the middle of construction, and the minaret only reached half of its intended height. There are 200 columns also unfinished, yet providing a really wonderful area to sit and talk or, my favorite; people watch.
On the other side of the square of half finished columns, the mausoleum of Mohammed V contains not only his tomb, but those of his two sons, King Hassan II and Prince Abdallah. My favorite part of the mausoleum were the guards that stood outside every door and inside every corner of the mausoleum. I walked out of the dim interior to a blinding sun above and nearly walked into a column outside. The guard at that door laughed and agreed with me that the sun was too bright! Seriously, the sun is crazy bright. I’ve been blinded since we arrived in the UAE- had a brief respite during the snowstorm in Jordan, but then was blinded, again, by the light in Israel and now Morocco.
Because we were too late to rock the kasbah (that’s for you, Mindy) the day before, we went back to check out a cafe that our new friend Catherine recommended. We walked through the garden, at a different entrance of the kasbah and directly to the cafe. We had our first official tea a la menth in Morocco (mint tea) and ohmyyum is all I can say. I’ve been drinking way more tea than coffee on this trip, and I have to admit, I think I like the mint tea more than the chai in India and Nepal. They call it ‘Moroccan whiskey’ here because everyone drinks it all. the. time. (Although I don’t really get why they call it whiskey- because no way could I drink whiskey as often as they drink this tea. I think ‘Moroccan water’ might be a better term for it… But… I don’t think I’ll be changing any minds any time soon.)
Another thing I don’t quite understand are the motorbikes. They really are motorBIKES with pedals AND an engine. From my observations, it seems as though the pedals are used to kickstart the engine, but I’ve also seen some people pedaling their motorBIKE with the engine running. I don’t get it. They’re pretty cute though.
After we had our fill of the kasbah, we debated what to do for dinner. Andrew and I are very different travelers. I’m used to traveling without the internet at my disposal and making decisions as I go. He looks up cities, hotels, restaurants online- seeing where to go and where to avoid, and is way more prepared than I ever am. Great, right? He’s prepared. I’m spontaneous. The perfect balance. In the perfect travel world, yes. In our travel world, not. so. much. This overwhelming difference between the two of us sometimes results in stony silences during dinner. Stony silences that include agreeing on what to order and even sharing our food- poutily (is that word?) and silently, until one of us caves and starts talking. Lindsay said her family wondered what we do when we just want to be alone. Well, we don’t always have that luxury. Frankly, I don’t feel safe being alone in Muslim countries. Men leer. They catcall. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes Andrew extra protective. So instead we wrap ourselves up in our own little worlds like we did tonight at dinner until one of us realizes how ridiculous we are being and we talk our way out of it.
Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s real hard. But we get through. And then Andrew teases me the next morning “Remember when you were mad at me for wanting to eat at a Trip Advisor restaurant?” and I fire right back “Remember when we ate at the Trip Advisor restaurant and it sucked, was expensive, and I was still hungry after?” I give him the “AND what?” face. He rolls his eyes. We carry on.
