The Amsterdam sailed into the port of Casablanca, Morocco this morning about 7am. And we finally made it here, after many attempts in the past that failed. Anyway, here is some info on Morocco. The capital is Rabat, and the population is 34,860,000 citizens that speak mainly Arabic. The area of the country is 172,368 square miles of sandy beaches, red rocky mountains, and desert.
If you imagine cities like Marrakesh, Tangier, Fez, Casablanca, and Rabat, along with souqs, kasbahs, spices, and date palms, you might think you were whisked away on a magic carpet ride.
Morocco is a cultural collision of Africa, Islam, and some Andalusian from across the Straits of Gibraltar. You can find Roman ruins, ancient medinas, and a hip hop city nightlife. They are also famous for their handicrafts, as well as endless sand dunes.
The best time to visit is October to April. Things to see include Marrakesh's Djemaa el Fna Square, which is a joyful riot of music, food, storytellers, and snake charmers. Ancient Fez has the most intact medieval Arab city in the world.
A sunset over the Sahara Desert, the cornflower blue houses of Chefchaouen, and the Dades Gorge with palm oasis and red rocky cliffs are not to be missed.
Things to do are trek deep into the Atlas Mountains with mules, and sleep in local Berber homesteads. Haggle for souvenirs in souqs, and get knee-deep in carpets. Or you can soak your cares away in a hammam or bath house. Satisfy your sweet tooth with a scalding mint tea and plate of pastries.
What is there to eat? Couscous (seksu), steamed for hours and heaped with meat and veggies. Their drink of choice is red or white wine.
Trademarks are mint tea, Berbers, couscous, quality rugs, and Bogart and Bergman in "Casablanca", the movie. Their money, by the way, is the Morocco dirham at 9.00 to $1 USD.
A random fact is the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca can hold 25,000 worshippers, and boasts a minaret of 210 meters or 689 feet, the tallest in the world as of 2012. Also at that time, this mosque was the third largest in the world.
There were 7 tours offered from the shore excursions. Highlights of Casablanca for 4 hours was $70. Casablanca sites and an inside tour of Hassan II Mosque was 5 hours at $90. A cooking demo and market tour was 6 ½ hours for $170.
Out of town excursions went to Rabat, 6 hours for $90, a visit to two Portuguese towns was $110 for 5 hours. A city tour of Casablanca and a ride to Rabat was 10 hours for $160, while the grand-daddy of tours was for 12 ½ hours for magical Marrakesh for $250. The ride time was 4 hours each way.
We decided on no tours today, although we considered going to Rabat, the capital. The final thought on that one was the 1 ½ hour bus ride one way. Nope, not in the cards. Breakfast in the dining room was first on our list. What a surprise we had when we found Barb sitting there. Since she was definitely not going off of the ship today, we spent a few hours together before we left a little before 11am.
First, we felt we needed to leave the shorts behind today, and wear long jeans. Not that we intended to visit a mosque, you get far less disapproving looks from the locals if you are dressed conservatively. Much more so if you are a woman, as we are back in the "robes and head covers" part of the world once again.
For a change, we had a free shuttle that took us to United Square and the Hyatt Hotel, none of which were marked on the ship's map. Since we were buried deep in a commercial port, this had to be one of the worst docks ever. There was a mountainous pile of sand that was being off-loaded by the trucks right near the ship. But it was not this pile that was causing the problem…….there was another pile of phosphates being loaded into a ship across from us that was causing a giant dust cloud that came over the decks. Even the fellows stationed at the gangway, as well as the security staff had to wear masks today. It was that bad.
There was another ship already in port this morning….. The Aida diva, a 69,203 Gross ton vessel that holds up to 2500 passengers. They are billed as a large family-friendly ship for a good time experience. Their ship was docked closer to the main road, so they were walking to the center of town.
Turned out that we did not go too far to the United Square where many shops, hotels, and restaurants were located. Right across the road was the Hyatt Hotel, not especially pretty on the outside, but quite polished in the interior. We played with the idea of coming back here later. One other fact to mention here is that Barbara H had a stern warning in her Casablanca Facts sheet. It said to avoid smartphone-based car services, such as Uber and the like. There have been reports of violence by taxi drivers. Good to know.
One form of transit looked fairly new, modern, and clean. It was the LRV, or Light Rail Vehicle, that ran right through the center of town. We are sure it connects to all parts of the city, including the Ville Nouvelle, a more modern part of the city with nice hotels and chic restaurants.
Once off the bus, we left this square as fast as we could. Taxi drivers were trying to get folks to take tours, which was something none of us wanted to do. They tended to target the older and less mobile people, giving us the chance to slip away. Walking carefully across the major boulevard, we found the local flea market or souq as they call them here. The very first stall had some interesting long sleeve t-shirts, but we had to check out the entire place first. This was another place in which to get lost. This market was in narrow alleyways with many twists and turns, hard to figure out where we started and where to get out. That's their clever idea, the more time you spend in there, the more likely you are to buy stuff. And there was a whole lot of stuff, much the same as we saw in Muscat, Oman….only not as nice.
There were a few places that sold knock-off handbags, but not the one I was specifically looking for. Will have to go back to Hong Kong's night market for that one. We think we passed some of these tiny shops four times, before coming out at the first shop with the nice t-shirts. We negotiated for three of them, and did get a good deal. The vendor wanted either local dirham or euros. We used euro. No USD, at least where we went.
Deciding against a buffet lunch at the Hyatt, we did make use of their restrooms. Casablanca beers would have been nice, but it was still too early. Around the corner from this square was McDonalds and KFC. Both were quite small with most of the seating outside…more like take-away food. Also in this tight area, were several Italian cafes that did serve pizza among other spicy entrees. Once again, they were more like fast food eateries.
So we followed the crowd that was gathering across the street at the United Square. Located between cafes and restaurants, was an artisanal shop with nicer traditional items from Morocco. This was the only shop we found some shot glasses, so we bought ne for 4.50 euro. We have our doubts that the world cruise itinerary will include Casablanca anytime too soon, so at least we have our little collectible.
Chatting with many friends that have been to this city, they said the only thing to really see is the Hassan II Mosque, the third largest in the world, we understand. We could see it on the water front, and probably could have walked there, but we were glad we did not attempt it. Our over-all feeling walking through this part of town, which we assume is the better part of town, it was a far cry from the clean, beautiful streets and historical buildings of Cadiz. Quite different, it is not typical Europe, and more of a third world country. Later in the day, we sat with friends on the ship that had taken the walk to the mosque, and were surprised to see the condition of the area surrounding it. Much poverty, crumbling buildings, and dirty streets. More important, they felt it was not full of tourists, and they felt vulnerable. Not good.
They also searched for the famous Rick's Café, which was built to resemble the movie setting for the old film Casablanca, with Humphrey Bogart and Ingmar Bergman. The interior was molded after the movie set complete with posters and photos from the movie. They thought it was closed, since it also appeared to look seedy and abandoned in the morning. Turned out, it was opened in the afternoon, but you could not get inside unless you had reservations……not even to see the memorabilia. Glad we did not seek this out either.
Street vendors filled this square, as well as some cafes that served mostly coffee and pastries. Restaurants were not inviting to us. So after walking down the street a short way, we turned around and headed right back to the bus stop, where one was waiting to leave shortly. Truthfully, we were not all that far from the ship, and normally we would have walked. But this time, we were glad we did not.
Got back with just enough time to make it to the dining room where lunch was being served until 1pm. We both had small salads and ham and cheese paninis with plenty of iced the with lemon. The price was right too, although we missed having Barb join us. We thought perhaps she may have changed her mind and went to town on the shuttle. So spending a few hours on computer work was most welcomed.
There would be no sail away to film, because all aboard time was 8:30pm. That gave the extra-long tours to Marrakesh time to get back to the ship before 9pm. Carol, our watercolors friend, joined our table after 8:30pm, since she had done that tour. Although she was tired, she did enjoy it. Jim and Maureen had done a city tour, and admitted they knew more about mosques than they ever could imagine, after spending two hours in the big one today. Scoop had a great free tour, a smart guide, a new bus, and a good served lunch. He was the "winner" today. As we thought, Barb had stayed onboard, as this is one place she never felt safe. We can see why.
The ship left the port after 9pm, and we did get to see the Hassan II Mosque lit up on the harbor front as we sailed in a westerly direction towards the Portuguese island of Madeira. Since it was Easter, the tables were set with spring colored napkins and festive paper egg coasters on the table. Egg lanterns hung from the ceiling, placed high enough that the folks could not take them. Before she left the dining room, Barb "procured" a very large chocolate Easter egg that was part of the entryway decorations. As a joke, she gave it to Bill for a present, and fled the room as she always does. We did offer it to our waiters, but they returned it to the display, as tomorrow, they told us there was an Easter Lunch buffet, and they would keep the decorations through lunchtime as well.
Bill & Mary Ann
Entrance to the dining room, deck four – HAPPY EASTER
Dining room decorations
Crane in the port of Casablanca
Commercial port
Older cranes
Old ships
Harbor of Casablanca
Naval ships and mosque in the distance
Royal Moroccan Navy
Hassan II Mosque
Naval ship
The gangway in a very commercial port
Mountain of sand on the left
Trucks were dumping more of it all day
Many cranes for loading ships
Trucks were busy close to the ship
Streets were covered with sand and phosphates
Giant claw used for loading
Dust blowing from the phosphate pile
Crowded port facility
Easter gifts – Seattle's Best Chocolate
Our waiters had to wear masks
We got the red carpet
Taxis
Lumber from the forest region of Morocco
Sofitel Hotel
The port gate
Buildings outside the port gate
BMC Building
Local Moroccan women and kids
Much older part of town
Wall art
Look at the number of satellite dishes
United Square
The bus drop-off
The Hyatt Hotel across from United Square
Street food vendor
Wide boulevard
Entrance to an old traditional bazaar
Carefully crossing two wide avenues
The cars may or may not stop
Long line of shops
Sidewalk drink vendor
Tables of treasures
Typical souvenirs
Bazaar is located very close to the Hyatt Regency Hotel
Rolled suitcases – give you a good price
Outside vendors
Lazy cat
Close quarters
So much stuff
Just opening up for business at 11am
Many treasures
Clothing
Sporting t-shirts are popular
Shoes and sandals galore
Traditional and modern
Most traditional for women
Many shops for men
Affordable handbags
Leather items are abundant
Tunics and robes
Crumbling buildings
You see many beggars
Apartments overhead the shops
Narrow streets in the bazaar
A stack of underwear
Moroccan wares
Umbrellas for shade
Sport shoes
Beaded jewelry
Local lunch
Locals shop here also
Hair ornaments for girls
Modern Moroccan clothing
Pear vendor
Getting lost was easy
Fresh fruit is always good
A hotel at the end of the alley
Pots with charcoals ready for cooking later
Sports bags
Entry to the Hyatt Regency
Follow the red carpet
Interior of the Hyatt was quite civilized
Lunch would begin at noontime
Decorative flower arrangements
United Square cafes
