16 January 2025 – Thursday – El Jajida – UNESCO Site

We had heard that two others who had the day to spend were going to El jadida, a UNESCO world heritage site. Abdou, our guide, arranged for it. And we joined up with Patricia and Lauren, a mother daughter pair, to make the journey. We met at 9 am, one hour earlier than we had originally planned, to make the trip. 

Our guide, Mohammed, met us in the lobby. We piled into a taxi with me and Mark in the tight third row, and we were off. Along the was we heard about the Portuguese who had lived in the area we planned to boat. They had come to Morocco to use it as a jumping off point yo get to South America and to take slaves to help on the trip. They stayed for a few hundred years before leaving Africa. In the meantime they built fortifications and inhabited large cities they built. 

Our first stop was a gas station/restaurant where there was a restroom and interesting junk food. We then went on to visit a town, Azemmour, which is a small artists community inside an old fortress. Most early towns were built along the seashore or on rivers because “water is life” according to our guide. We walked through the streets seeing artisans at work and many adorable cats. Apparently cats are thought to be present at a human birth guarding the angels on our shoulders. Figs scare away the angels by barking so that they are not popular pets. 
We visited the old fortress and then went down by the river for mint tea and cookies. It was a warm sunny and windless day. 

We walked back to our car to continue the trip to El Jadida. In Arabic that translates to new city although the Portuguese had called it Mazagan. It took another 30 minutes to get there. The city had an ancient cistern that supplied fresh water hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately we were unable to visit because the roof had collapsed and they were replacing it. 
We viewed the sea gate that was the exit spot for the Portuguese sailors to leave for Brazil. We then climbed the fort steps and took in a panoramic view of the port. 

We walked back into town to visit the soul, the shopping area. Everything is for sale including live chickens. There was a herb seller who had an enormous amount of mint to sell for tea. Mint tea is a big favorite.  

We ended by returning to Casablanca with a short visit to view the Mohammed mosque from the shore

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We returned to the hotel and met with Abdou to discuss the evening plans and timing for our departure the next day. Dinner at Al Mounia was a group of typical vegetable salads with eggplant and carrots and mint being prominent. We each had a tagine which is a meat cooked in a clay pot. Very tasty. Maria who joined us reported on her Hammam experience. We were all laughing. 
Time to sleep to ready for our long trip to the blue city, Chefchaouen

Tea with Dinner