Casablanca: ... and strolling trough the old medina

Did you ever take the time to stroll through the medina without actually searching or buying something? I can tell you it's worth it: you will discover many things and details you never paid attention to before...

Casablanca: ... and preparations for the Aid El-Kebir...

One month after Ramadan and at the end of the pilgrimage all moroccans celebrate the Aid El-Kebir. Each family who can afford will buy at least one mutton and have it killed/butchered in the morning of the Aid El-Khebir. For one week the family is only eating mutton meat and is also sharing parts of their meat (mostly the mutton head) with the poor.

So at least one week before the celebration sheep can be bought everywhere and they are kept until the morning of the Aid in the family's garden, the balcony or even in the apartments. Therefore it is not rare that you can observe muttons being transported on car roofs or in the boot.

Muttons for sale: 1kg costs around 4€

All these beautiful sheep wait to be selected for the Aid...

A Moroccan family father is showing me on the teeth of the mutton

how old this one is: 12 years apparently

Aha, one mutton has been selected and is now waiting to be weighted...

And here we go: selected, weighted and now ready to be transported 

to the family's house/apartment...

Casablanca: ... and some weekend impressions from the "Habous" market

Casablance: and the huge freshmarket

We got up at five in the morning and were taken by one of my husbands colleagues to a place in Casablanca I have never been to before... This is where all the big supermarkets buy their fresh food... And at that time of the day the market hall was already crowded like hell.
And as you can imagine its a men's business, so no women at all ... least of all German girls with big cameras... But well, I took the pictures quickly, before I got the strange looks:

Rabat/Salé: ...and my tuesday morning at the 'Complexe des potiers Oulja':

An one hour drive from Casablanca between Rabat and Salé you find a huge pottery quarter called 'Complexe des potiers Oulja'. What can you find there, you would like to know? Just scrawl down and have a look yourself:

For example you can find beautiful terracotta pots in all shapes, sizes and colours... for your garden, the balcony or terrace:

Then you can of course buy the typical Moroccan tile tables. They can be done in all patterns and colours you want and just look super nice wherever you put them:

Just behind the selling rooms you often find a simple factory where all the products are manufactured. 

It's definitely worth to take a look!!!

Take your time and stroll around the little pottery village and I promise you that you will find much more than 'just pottery and tables'...

Casablanca: and how I finally found the fabrics I have been searching for so long...

Casablanca is full of fabrics and fabric markets, but its mainly qualities for furniture or djellabas... I have been looking for tissues in a nice soft cotton voile and simple cotton or linen with feminine designs... but couldn't find them anywhere. Until I went yesterday with a friend to the Hay Al Farah market:

Of course it still takes its time and you have to be patient and search properly in all the small shops until you find exactly what you wanted, but in the end we were successful!!!

I will let you know, once I made something out of all these fabrics...