Casablanca


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Africa » Morocco » Grand Casablanca » Casablanca
March 21st 2011
Published: March 21st 2011
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Off all the gins joints in all the world, I had to walk into Rick's. Then I left, because it was fucking 200 DH for 3 courses.



Casablanca. I had the notion in my head that Morocco would be a pastiche of faded colonial glory, and until reaching Casa, I had been a little disappointed, finding it only in places. Casa, too, has its new town and the huge development schemes along the port. However, you can wander the once-lively streets where all the former colonial offices and embassies were, and visit the sites where international intrigues took place during the first and second world wars. Again, there was not much info available locally, so we had to go online to locate such interesting places.

Originally, I had planned to have three nights in Casa; as it turned out, one night was more than enough. In truth, the only things to see are "Rick's Café", a reproduction of the café from the movie Casablanca, and the genuinely impressive Hassan II Mosque. Rick's Café is hideously overpriced, and from what we heard not all that good to eat in. Thus we merely observed it from outside, which in itself was rubbish as it looked nothing like the place from there. Ah, well. The mosque on the other hand...

The Hassan II Mosque is the third largest mosque in the world, and has the world's tallest minaret (tower from which they make the call to prayer). It was a stunning sight. A gigantic, open courtyard, detailed with intricate tiling patterns, leads on to the mosque on the right. On the left are the gardens and residences, in themselves a master work of open spaces and simplicity. The mosque is almost perfectly symmetrical, with an extra building on the right hand side. Every space on the walls and doors is filled with symbols, writing, mosaics and gold leaf. There are numerous fountains, and the curved wall around the back of the mosque runs directly along the shore. If you sit on the wall, you can watch the local children take great leaps off into the cold waters beneath. I was surprised to see this, but the water was full of rubbish. Polystyrene, plastic, paper wrappers, boxes - it was disgusting. The water itself was also an unhealthy brown colour; I wouldn't have fancied swimming in it.

The lack of sights left us with spare time. We wandered the medina, even smaller here than in Rabat, and frankly, rubbish. There was hardly anything there at all; it seems as though people here have abandoned their medina. We went to an "aquarium" beside the mosque, to fill time and because it was cheap. The parentheses are due to the fact that the aquarium did not have any fish. At least, not living ones. There were a number of preserved species and fossils, but not of much interest. When it started to fill up with schoolkids, we bailed. The next day, we hopped on the train to Marrakech.

It is worth mentioning the hotel here; if you ever find yourself in Casa, the hotel Central is clean, cheap and welcoming. The guy running it is a little eccentric, but he gives you free mint tea regularly. Just look tired or bored if you fancy a drop...


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Minaret at Hassan IIMinaret at Hassan II
Minaret at Hassan II

World's tallest


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