A Grand Mosque indeed - Casablanca, Morocco

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Casablanca had a cold and gritty feeling. Much of our time was spent organising parcels and onward travel.

The first night we visited the medina. It is a narrow web of streets and markets that does not possess the character or charm of the Marrakech souks. Most of the products at the market are Asian imports. The vendors sit in their stalls waiting, as opposed to greeting people as they come by. The medina area has recently had the pavements ripped up in strips, probably for service reticulation. Unfortunately the city workers did not repave when they filled-in the trenches, leaving quite a mess.

We ate at the café at the end of our street and had the Moroccan equivalent of the Greek Giro. When I realised no one in the café spoke English, I ordered by pointing at another guest’s meal. This worked a treat!

We took a tour of the recently completed and impressive grand mosque. It is very beautiful and of gargantuan proportions, being the second largest mosque in the world, after the mosque at Mecca. It is in a lovely setting, right on the waterfront.

We stayed at Hotel Amoud which is a reasonable quality establishment at a modest price. I would recommend it to other travellers who ‘need’ to go to Casablanca.

We decided that Casablanca lacks the romance of the Bogart Bergman film and we look to other locations with more character on our future travels.

While our originally planned three week journey in Morocco had to be trimmed to accommodate another opportunity, our short visit has encouraged us to ensure we return to complete our planned travels in this interesting part of the world.

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