Casablanca

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Casablanca--sounds so romantic. "You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh..." We will remember this!! Not because of a kiss or a sigh, but because of the filth and deceit. We all agreed that this was our least favorite port for a number of reasons.

Several of us took the shuttle from the ship into the center of town. We were hoping that we could negotiate a tour similar to the one we had gotten in Gilbraltar. A taxi that could carry 7 of us for a good price. We were wrong!!! Immediately when stepping off the shuttle, we were surrounded by men trying to gain our attention, not listening to what we wanted and trying to steal us away from others who were bargaining. We told them that we were not interested at the moment just for some relief. We started to walk down the street to a tourist information office, but they continued to follow us. Steve and Bob were getting HIGHLY irritated. Tempers began to flare and words were exchanged. In order to avoid any trouble, Steve and Linda, Bob and Deanie got back on the shuttle and returned to the ship. They did not get to see very much of Casablanca but they avoided any further trouble.

That left Linda G, Pam and I so we decided to try to find a good taxi for 3. We went back to the central area and negotiated one. We agreed on 25 EU each but as we got in the taxi, the boss said 100 EU. That would have been 33.33 each. We didn't have much bargaining power then since we were in the taxi. Our driver spoke a little English but it was quite difficult to understand him. He drove us to a block of town that had a market in it. We walked around a little, took some photos and he bought us each a long stem rose. When we got back in the cab, he drove us to the part he called the Hollywood area. On a hill overlooking the sity here the rich people live. This is where I took the photo of Yves Saint Laurent's house not knowing that he had just died or was about to die. There are some beautiful areas of the city and lots of money is there.

We asked him to take us to the central market. At first he had agreed but then told us the central market was closed. We found out later that was not the case. He took us to Hassan II Mosque, the second largest mosque in the world. He let us out and we walked to it. He said he would have a cup of coffee and wait for us to look around. Pam decided she wanted to take a tour. Little did we know how long that would take. They had to wait until they had enough people to take the English tour and then it took about 45 minutes for the tour. She said it was extremely elegant inside and enjoyed it.

Linda and I waited outside. And waited and waited. We took many pictures of this magnificent structure but we were becoming a little concerned and were really ready to leave. Finally, Pam appeared just as the taxi driver was coming to see if we had skipped out on him. We all walked back to his taxi.

He then took us to a shop (probably one that he got a kickback from). It had lots of nice things in it but it also had very pushy salespeople. I bought a couple of bracelets. Pam negotiated for an old dagger. She collects daggers and swords and tries to find old ones at fairly good prices. She got a beauty. Linda shopped for a runner-type carpet. She is quite the bargainer!! She got it at her price. Hope it looks good, Linda.

The strangest thing happened as we left the store. The very first guy who had offered us a taxi in the morning was there to collect our payment. Very weird. He was not part of our negotiations at all. We had decided that we would pay the original 35 EUs since we had spent so much time at the mosque and taken our driver's money-making time. This was supposed to be our payment and gratuity. The boss did not want to take the payment while we were on the street. He wanted us to get into the taxi before taking out our money--once again, weird.

After paying for the tour, we asked the driver to return us to the ship; which he did. When we got out, he asked for a little more $$$ "for me." I felt bad that we didn't give him anything else. Hope he got some from his boss. There were officials at the ship asking us how much we had paid for our taxi and who was the driver. They said they are trying to regulate it. Maybe next time there might be some regulation!!

We hadn't had any lunch so we met everyone on the Lido deck for pizza, hamburgers, salad and beer!! After that we went to the Explorers Lounge for trivia and then got ready for cocktails and dinner!!! Another day of cruising. Now it is on to Cadiz and more adventure.

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Photos

Negotiating
Pushy taxi drivers crowd around you as soon as you stop off the shuttle. Very irritating.

Olive souk
What a wonderfully wide variety

Flowers galore
Beautiful displays

Great vegie display
Vegetable souk

Habous quarter
Many souks are here but we did not stop.

Hassan II Mosque
The tallest minaret and second largest mosque in the world

Minaret of Hassan II Mosque
The tallest minaret in the world.

Yves Saint Laurent's house
A quick photo as we drove by. It was the day he died, but we didn't know it yet.

Comments

[Madalyn]

Fascinating place!
Sounds like avoiding cabs altogether would be a good idea here. Could many interesting sites be accessed by walkers?