Blogs from Casablanca, Grand Casablanca, Morocco, Africa - page 2

“What city is your final destination?” asked the gate agent. “Casablanca,” I replied. Landing in Casablanca is pretty much a blur. This was the fourth airport I had been in within the previous twenty four hours. And except for my home airport, I only had enough time in those airports to run between gates. (As an aside, why is it I always land in the furthest away gate in the most remote concourse, and depart from the gate that is as far away as possible and still be in the same airport?) One of those flights took me from San Francisco to Montreal, where I would connect to the flight to Casablanca. Even though I wouldn’t be leaving the secured area of the airport, I still had to pass through Passport Control. No worries, I thought, ... read more

I,m in Africa ! The journey was not difficult although I can,t say I slept to much . Suzanne met us for lunch in Montreal and we had a great visit . All is well with the Bourasa family . We arrived here at 6 am and had no trouble finding an ATM a and the train into town but the train was delayed nearly an hour for some reason . We didn't, get to the hotel until nearly 11am . It is a comfortable enough space within easy walking distance to the Medina and the Hussan II Mosque . We walked and wandered all day and found the people we encountered to be pleasant and helpful . .They seem relaxed .The sun was shining and our coats were too warm ...except when the wind was ... read more

Geo: 33.5756, -7.6178Sin haber dormido fuimos al tour temprano. Empezando por el Mercado Viejo, todo está dicho en su nombre. Luego fuimos a la Mezquita Hassan II, construida entre 1987 y 1993 es la tercera más grande, caben 80000 (dentro y fuera) almas. Luego fuimos a las compras de chucherias, un "City Hall" y al Palacio Real, que usa el Rey Mohammed VI, cuando está en Casablanca. Aunque todavia teniamos tiempo para regresar caminando decidimos comer y dormir. En la noche fuimos a la fiesta de los 70's, después del show "Cuore Classico Italiano".Otro día de navegación, fuimos a la presentación del tras telones del barco, y en la noche fuimos al show inspirado en Enrico Ceramico "Young Master".... read more

Since the last blog we have been to Barcelona, Casablanca and Tenerife. All great places but before i got there, I thought I'd share life aboard MSC Fantasia. It's very large ship with about 4000 passengers and 1500 crew. It's pretty full on especially at breakfast time. The majority of passengers are Italian and german so announcements are made in multiple languages. Despite the language "soup"everyone seems to muddle along quite well I seem to be able to understand a bit of German and Italian is decipherable. Peter can do Spanish and French. We've had some great mealtime pantomimes especially breakfast the first day which I swear was scripted by John Cleese. Manuel and several of his brothers served our table that morning! Our ship the Fantasia has a bit of a reputation for poor food ... read more

Morocco. Casablanca. The very names evoke the essence of exotica. Maybe it is the dark aura of Rick's Cafe from the movie, with the sweeping lighthouse beam and the dark menace of the Gestapo. Maybe it is the old Pepe LePew line of "Come with me to the casbah!" Or maybe it is just the Vietnam era reverberating through "Marrakech Express". For whatever reason, the mere saying of "we are leaving Paris and will be in Casablanca in 3 hours" just reeks of adventure and secret places. The reality, at least for Casablanca, is somewhat different, for this is no ancient city with a many-alleyed medina. It is a large city of some 4 million inhabitants, or about 5 million in the greater metropolitan area, making it the largest city not only in Morocco but the ... read more