Golden Tulip Farah. The hotel in Casablanca. It was a high-class hotel not suitable for stay only. We enjoyed a lobby concert before dinner the previous night. Easy-listening music goes well in Morocco, too. It reminded me the old American movie "Casablanca". The characters, every scene, the music pub, "As time goes by" ..., everything was nice.

Back to the 6th day on the half way of the trip, Ms. Karimai, an attendant, said at the check-in counter of the hotel in Fez like this.
"The time for souvenir shopping is necessary and important, isn't it? " Then she added.
"At Casablanca Airport, you cannot use the Moroccan currency and it seems you will not have enough time to enjoy shopping. Therefore I cannot say where now, but we will once drop in at some shopping center."

Though we may have dropped in at such shops until then, nobody still must have had any strong intention to buy souvenirs. So, we were relieved to hear her notice.
However, the after-effect of Sacrifice Festival here, too....

We had time in the evening at Fez on the 7th day, but almost all stores were closed.
On the 8th day after the sightseeing, we were about to pull over the bus in front of a store in Rabat, but it was closed.
Ms. Karimai made us at ease, hiding her upset and said,
"Please wait until the last day. You can buy anything at the supermarket near our hotel in Casablanca. It opens 8:00 am."

Early morning on the day, answering our request, the concierge said, "Isn't it Acima? It opens at 9:00. But it is closed today, from my understanding."
Since we had to leave the hotel at 9:00, we dashed to Acima before 8:00, neglecting his advice.
It was there in 10-minute walk, but we had to understand it would not open for the day.

In conclusion, we could not drop in at any shopping center nor supermarket until leaving Morocco. However, Emiko did not seem confused, and I had already got things done. I felt regret a little because of the interest in goods and shopping atmosphere much more than anybody, though.
We should not have anything to complain to Ms. Karimai nor the guide. It was an unexpected happening due to the special festival once a year. They looked pitiful for the apology.

Now, the sightseeing in Casablanca on the last day.
We are busy because we have to get to the airport before noon in order to be in time for the plane at 2:15 pm.
We left the hotel at 9:00 and headed for the Hassan 2 Mosque, the landmark of this city.
Casablanca faces the Atlantic Ocean, so I felt some smell of the sea breeze. It was peaceful, unlikely to the big city with the population of 4 million people.

The whole sightseeing ended just before noon. We are going to get on the plane heading for Dubai at Casablanca Airport.
The flight was delayed due to the plane's something wrong for more than one hour, but we were barely in time for the connection flight for Narita at Dubai Airport.