Apr 4 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 12. Catholic church in Casablanca

I’m not sure how long Morocco has had an indigenous Christian community.

I originally thought this building was a synagogue, as the patterns at the top give the illusion of looking like Magen David stars

Actually its a Catholic church. The doors are covered in some kind of crude chipboard like a repair done in a hurry.

It looks disused, but some people told me it is open later on. There was a static caravan with some people running some kind of youth club. Round one side part of the building adjoining appears to be government offices.

Round the side. Signs of arson. Building looks robust enough to not sustain much damage.

Lots of rubbish, and a ‘free Palestine’ scrawled onto the wall. Perhaps someone’s idea of a Palestine is full of rubbish and graffiti. Probably like this part of Jerusalem.

Like to know what the interior of this building looks like. The outer doors looks like some kind of chipboard or some temporary repair which makes me think its not so well maintained.

If the King is reading this, how about please get this building and grounds smartened up? 🙂 Talking of such, I’ll talk about about Morocco’s monarch tomorrow.

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Apr 2 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 11. The Grande Mosque in Casablanca

This is a big attraction of Casa;

Its huge, its one of the biggest houses of worship in the world.

I was stunned when I read up about it later. They started building it in 1986 and didn’t finish until 1993 and cost over 600 million Euros (it was built a French construction company Boygues) they used a lot of Morocco’s very talented artisans to get all the detail exactly right with the style of architecture in this country. When you think people in this country probably earn 30% or so of salaries in UK this is a colossal project, that stratospheric price tag could be even bigger for the equivalent build in UK, US, France or wherever.

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These collection of archways across the plaza look quite nice, they look similar to the collection of arches at the Al Asqa mosque on the temple mount in Jerusalem, so I guess its a characteristic of these.

With a couple of rare exceptions, the mosques in Morocco cannot be visited by non-Muslims.

The Mosque looks out to the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently, another 50 million euros were needed to fix structural problems to do with the steel bars in the concrete rusting.

I only ever thought that Morocco was just another Islamic country, but actually Fatima, the grand daughter of Mohammed came here, this place has far more significance than I realised. Around peoples business, homes and cars, you see an obvious devotion to their faith. Some message of the Koran was in this taxi which I traveled to the station later.

Previous 10. Frankly my dear…

Next 12. Catholic church of Casablanca

Mar 31 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 10. Casablanca – Frankly my dear….

Ok, I bought this film, but I haven’t seen it yet 🙂

Casablanca is a huge place, and very industrious. Its night and day compared to Tangier, – like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv or London and Birmingham.

This place has 3.3 million people, its the 5th largest city in Africa.

Often this place is simply known by the locals as ‘Casa’

I only spent two days there, it looks pretty modern, more like a large French city. Perhaps a little cruelly, the guide book I had tells people its not worth visiting. I did get to see a few surprises though.

Looking closer at some of theses posters, I noticed something that seemed more common as getting further down away from Europe;

These symbols show one of the Berber languages, that’s native to Morocco. Actually theres at least 3 of these, and more types of this in the other north African nations.

Apparently, only 10% of Moroccans are pure Arabs, most of the people are ethnically Berbers or a mix of Berber and Arab.

The city centre looks quite fresh and modern, and this lightrail tram looks really similar to the new one in Jerusalem.

Government buildings, grand, bold, beautiful and unmistakably Moroccan.

Previous 9. Getting the train to Casablanca

Next. 11. The Grande Mosque

Mar 30 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 9. Getting the train to Casablanca

So, only one night in Tangier and I’m off on my way to Casablanca….

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I get a taxi to the railway station, I’m excited about leaving from the most north west corner of Africa by train. This station has its a sort of unique Moroccan charm about it.

The railway system here is pretty good, trains are fairly modern, and clean. Some white overalled women come along and remove rubbish from your carriage ever so often.

The journey is quite slow though, with some long stops at some isolated stations and at signals.

Oddly, Google doesn’t show lines for Morocco’s railway, so only given me time and path for driving. I think it was maybe 4 or 5 hours for this journey.

Previous 8. Crap car spotting

Next 10. Frankly my dear…

Mar 28 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 8. Crap car spotting

Driving in Morocco, how can I describe this? Energetic maybe, a lot of roads have fairly liberal approach of where the boundaries are of which lane you should drive in aren’t clearly defined. For civilians crossing the road, being able to make eye contact with motorists heading your direction, being able to run across is a must. I’ve no idea how elderly people or disabled managed to get across, there is very very few traffic lights.

I wonder if instead “D” for drive symbol on an automatic could be replaced with the first Arabic letter of the word Yallah…. 😉

Favourite cars of Morocco.

The Petit taxi

These are small taxis, designed to be economical and get round tight narrow street corners that big Mercedes can’t. They are always red, and have a cage roof rack. Usually a choice of a Fiat Uno, Peugeot 205 (or 206, 207 or 208) or Dacia.

Last time I rode in a 205 was in the early 1990s as my friend’s parents took me to a party in a car that was quite new. This one has done 250,000kms but its worth pointing out it looks like its been crashed several times and had the bumpers/grill etc pulled out but not quite straight meaning it all looks a bit crooked and the boot doesn’t close properly. Note this car has had the rubber over the steering wheel worn down to the bare metal. In the UK the legendary 205GTI is now rare and mint ones are worth £7000, so it would be interesting to find if any 3dr 205s with tidy bodywork could be shipped over to form the basis of a restore job.

Grand Taxis

These are the bigger taxis used for airport and long distance driving. The African favourite, is the Mercedes 240. Reliable, tough and simple to maintain. All of these are cream, and probably early 1980s models.

Its worth saying without a shadow of a doubt, taxi drivers will quite certainly try and rip you off if you are foreign. Excuses of the meter broken, or different prices if you don’t speak French or Arabic will exist, so its best to agree a price before he gets moving.

Miscellaneous ~~automotive rubbish~~ I mean classics

The Renault 4. My mum’s friend had one of these and took us to school twice when it was raining. This boxy utilitarian thing was meant as a an upgrade from the rival tin-shed Citroen 2CV with similar charm. I remember the rain would make a loud noise on the roof of it. Strangely enough, the Renault 4 which was made from the 1960s until 1990s was actually built in Casablanca, so I saw quite a few of them. This highly well worn corroded heap is dubious if its actually capable of moving on its own. It has a hole in the side large enough to put your hand in.

The Batmobile

No I’m not joking, well almost. This brand of vehicle is called ‘Batman’ which I think is from the city of the same name in Turkey. Not a Indian Tuktuk, but an odd hybrid of motorcycle and van parts probably built in someone’s shed.

The Renault 5

Theres a few of these I’ve seen in really good condition. I haven’t seen any since the one I saw used to transfer meat in Nazareth. This early one would make a nice classic to drive around.

The Dacia.

The car is often part of a running joke on Top Gear. Pronounced “Datcha” this is a sort of Tesco value car, a no frills brand of vehicle built in Romania but owned by Renault. They’ve been around since other Soviet era type rival motors like Lada, FSO and Yugo, but they are a bit better these days. The modern day Dacias are ok, and there’s absolutely loads of them in Morocco as they are also built there, and I’m guess sold to the rest of African continent. In Israel I’ve seen them but with Renault badges on, but the middle east prefers the different range of Renault cars built in Turkey.

Local police also drive Dacias

Learner cars with TWO steering wheels

What. The. Heck.

A Fiat 127 (my Dad had one of these) which are still also popular with Palestinians in Bethlehem, lands that rust forgot. And another hybrid bike van thing. Very large pizza delivery?

This is Rabat. Only saw a glimpse of this city when changing trains. Taxis here are blue for some reason.

Previous 7. Tangier (een) dream

Next. 9. Train to Casablanca

Mar 26 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 6. Jewish Tangier

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A synagogue in Tangier. This is the only one I could find from what my phone said on Google maps. It looks like a normal house, as I think its now just someone’s home. There was a (I think) a Muslim prayer carpet hung over one of the windows. There are no signs of any candelabra or 6 pointed star or obvious religious icons. I’m guessing that when nearly all the Jewish community left Tangier, they took all the most important religious articles with them.

The cemetery. I didn’t spend very long here enough to find it was locked, I got badgered by a beggar who wouldn’t leave me along and insisted on being my tour guide or sell me Marijuana. The blanket in the picture is covering a homeless person.

The Hebrew inscription is בית החיים (Beit H’Chaim), House of Life. Odd for a place like this, but its probably meant to be celebrating remembering the life of the deceased person I think.

Notice the bit that says Cemetario Judio? This is Spanish. Older Moroccans speak Spanish, but younger people just know French and Arabic, maybe some English. Note, the actual name Morocco is Spanish derived, the official Arabic word is Maghreb, and the French word is Maroc.

What I wanted to know, is how many practicing Jews still live in Morocco and what is their relationship like the Muslim majority like? What’s it like with the Jewish holidays in full swing compared to Israel or anywhere else? What about the Jews that adopted Christianity, what happened to them? Over the course of my travels I got to find out some fascinating things.

Previous 5. The Riad in Tangier

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Mar 25 2015

Believers should stay away from conspiracy hysteria

For a while I was thinking of writing something about the growing amount of sensationalist material and how Christians take too much interest in it.

I know people that used to spread the gospel but now put more energy into how someone is going to take me away in the night instead. True, there’s less trust in governments since the whole Snowden thing though. When folks are told not to listen to their doctor and get treatments from someone they’ve never heard of on the web, it becomes a bit ridiculous. Often dare criticise those into some of this so called ‘hidden knowledge’ then conspiracyophiles can turn nasty, and consider you part of the “system”.

My friend Judah has done a sterling job of blogging on how this stuff can destroy our credibility as believers and spread harmful teaching often in the direction of antisemitism.

http://judahgabriel.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/conspiracy-theories-promote-anti.html

Mar 24 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 5. The Riad in Tangier

Before I got there, my expectations of Morocco were to find these beautiful buildings that look lavish finished with black and white tile patterns, high ceilings and ornamental lamps. Like some of the places I’ve seen like the Arab Christian youth hostel in Nazareth, but better as I’ve read so much about the Moroccan artisans and their incredible attention to detail.

This is Tangier looking from back to the port I came out of yesterday

I got into a small taxi which the driver took me at full speed into the old city up a series of windy streets, I’m thinking we can’t get through that small doorway, with a lot of skill from the driver he weaves his way, finally getting through a tight bend which required a full left lock one direction, then puts the car in reverse and full right lock and then ahead. I was outside my hostel, actually the journey was very quick, I didn’t realise it was right across from the ferry terminal. My journey is only 2 Euros. I haven’t actually got any local money yet.

This is the living room. Lots of comfy seats and computer to borrow there. Absolutely love the decorations here, the high ceilings, mosaic and tile work, coloured glass ornament lamp shades, and of course carpets.

This place is on 3 floors, you can see all the way down through the glass floor from the top room where I was at.

Star shaped iron work, pale pastel coloured walls, palm trees, – and – a glass floor revealing what is on the floors above and below you!!! I think this place had been extensively renovated recently.

This was my room for the night. the bathroom is set inside this wardrobe-like partition. This would be a pretty cool place for a honeymoon I think.

I was the only person in this place, I had it to myself! Guess it was the quiet season.

I would thoroughly recommend staying at the Dar Jameel.

I found out later that a Riad is a type of mansion that was popular with the wealthy here. I think that’s where the city in Saudi Arabia of the same name comes from. Its amazing this place has been built and kept in such beautiful condition.

Previous – 4. Sailing to Tangier

Next – 6. Jewish Tangier

Mar 23 2015

Breakthrough from stress and anxiety through the word of God

In recent years I’ve found myself getting problems with anxiety, working in a school it seems to get worse. Although I’m not a teacher, I really feel for teachers and the pressures they go through and expectations, and a lot of the time its a thankless job.

I found this passage helpful:-

Philippians 4 : 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Mar 22 2015

Magnificent Morocco – 4. Sailing to Tangier

I was now pretty excited about getting on a boat to Africa from Spain, actually I got my ticket and left on a bus from Algeciras but was driven on the bus (as part of the ferry ticket) from Tarifa, which I noticed this town in Spain had people that seemed to mostly Arabic / North African. Whilst purchasing my ticket from a dedicated travel shop, there are two men next to me talking to the owner in Arabic, both of them are black, and are tall and slender and possibly look racially like a nation like Sudan or Somalia, but in the corner of my eye I see they get their passports out and and they are from Algeria.

Algeciras sounds a lot like Al Jazeera the Qatar based English Arab news channel, I’m pretty sure its an Arabic word left over from the days when the Arab ruled Spain. Paradoxically, there is a Spanish enclave built into today’s Morocco called Ceuta.

So its, not really simple to work out who “took” whose land, as many different people groups have swapped around these two opposite facing nations countless times.

I’ve got a few hours to go kill, so I have Arabic coffee in a little cafe run by Moroccans in Algeciras. The man has a picture of King Mohammed VI of Morocco on his wall and tells me he has met him. The cafe is advertised as having wifi (pronounced “whiffy” by French and Moroccan people) but actually I have to sit near the window as its pinched from the hotel across the road, as the cafe manager found out the code from his competitor’s business!!

Part of the reason for this trip is for me to learn about the different faiths that in Morocco besides Islam. there was once a thriving Jewish community, which have largely gone, but there all sorts of rumours of some converted to Islam or Christianity. I see a lot of Jews in Israel of Moroccan descent, and I think its a heritage they are proud of which has its own individuality. There is meant to be Christians both indigenous and those converted from Islam, but relatively DSCF8092 1024 few.

After looking for somewhere to ear, but only finding an ok-ish Turkish kebab place for lunch, across the road I noticed this Christian ministry which got me excited. Looking closer its a group that are from Brazil, its quite heart warming to see the Brazilian people who have a heart for Israel also want to preach the gospel to the nations too! Check out their site at http://semadeter.com.br/

When it was time to get my bus, I began to worry a bit, there were some buses in the large car park but with little signage to tell you where. After asking various people in turns out I had the right bus.

Once on the boat it was getting dark. The ferry felt a bit like the Isle of Wight trip with cars on bottom, and passengers are needed to carry (no lift) their own luggage up the stairs to the deck which has seating with a cafe in the middle, we were told to fill in some documents showing our purpose of visiting Morocco to a government employee sitting in the corner of the boat’s cafe, this was a bit nerve wracking approaching him with about 10 Israeli stamps mostly volunteer visas on my passport.

The boat only took an hour, once disembarking, it was quite quick process to get through a small terminal into Tangier. it was too dark to get proper pictures of the largely empty port before I got my taxi, but boy, Tangier turned out to be an exciting place!

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Next – 5. The Riad in Tangier

Brit In Jerusalem

A Christian discovering the roots in the holy land….

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