Life Lesson #34 - Train Stations in Casablanca Aren't Always Romantic

Casablanca is meant to be very romantic. Especially train stations in Casablanca. Or at least that's what the movie led me to believe. My own ending to Casablanca was significantly less romantic than the clip below.

We were standing on platform one. I felt weak and apparently looked pale. Our train was due in a few minutes. I was nervous about spending four hours on a train in my current state, but was confident that the previous twelve hours or so had emptied everything that could possibly be in my stomach.

I suddenly realised there was more and stood up in a hurry.

I had cased out the platform upon arrival and knew exactly where to find the nearest ablutions. I race there.

The men's bathroom on platform one at Casablanca Voyageurs station has five cubicles. Two of them have flush toilets. When I run in, two cubicles are occupied... no prizes for guessing which.

Seconds later my hands and knees get sticky as I kneel over a six inch hole in the ground gifting the last of yesterday's lunch to the pungent depths.

The train arrives while I'm on all fours.

I make it in time, but it's a very long journey!

Casablanca

When we arrived in Casablanca we haggled with a taxi driver to take us straight to the Hassan II Mosque, which is the second largest religious building in the world (behind the mosque at Mecca).

The photos don't do it justice at all.

From there, Paul checked out the art gallery while Frankie and I made our way along the pseudo-european beachfront for a swim.

Frankie came up with an ingenious way for us to swim together without endangering our valuables: we put everything important in her little bag and buried it under mine.

It didn't occur to us until we were in the water that if my [worthless] bag got nicked, we'd have no marker to find our valuables. Suddenly didn't feel like such a good idea!

Sunset over the beach at Casablanca

We then walked for what seemed like hours to a lighthouse that had seemed like a great landmark when we'd been looking at it from afar. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel and Paul.

We finished off the night at a cute little shisha bar.

Unfortunately, something I ate didn't agree with me... and let's just say I got up several times in the night and I feel guilty for not tipping whoever had to clean our bathroom!