This morning we visited the Grand Mosque of Hassan II. It is on the coastline and extends out into the Atlantic. We joined a tour to see this large and impressive building. It is the 3rd largest mosque in the world with the highest minaret 200 m.
It is magnificent with beautiful marble floors covering the huge hall that can accommodate 25000 worshippers. It even has a roof that opens. It incorporates cedar from the High Atlas and marble from south Morocco. The chandeliers are of murano glass from Venice and lower electronically. The doors are impressive covered in titanium to resist the salt and the external walls are mainly beautiful tiles.
We visited the ablution hall with 41 marble fountains and the hammam. All this was built in 6 years from 1987 to 1993 by 2500 workers and 10000 craftsmen.
Later we caught a taxi and took in Paradise, Eden, Tahiti, Sun Beach and Ain Diabs Beach with Sidi Abderrahmans mausoleul built on rocks off the coast. Despite the idealistic names we were not inspired to swim. Most people use the private pools rather than the ocean. The waves break 100s of metres off the shore and the sand looks grotty. We did stop off at one of the drinks places prior to our return.
Tomorrow we fly to Tunis.
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2 comments:
Wow, sounds like yet another fantastic day!!
I didn't realise the mosque was so modern - until you started talking about the titanium doors - protect you from more than a bit of sea water I'd say!!!
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