After hitting heavy head winds and a strong current through the Strait of Gibraltar, we arrived in Casablanca two hours late. We were scheduled for a nine hour tour which would get us back to the ship 30 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. Well the captain announced that he would remain in port an additional 2 hours so everyone who had long tours would be able to see everything that they were scheduled to see.
We jumped on our tour bus and our first stop was Rick's Cafe, but to our chagrin, no Bogie or Bacall to be seen! Then the big news from our tour guide, he told us that the movie Casablanca was filmed all in Hollywood! He also said this cafe was built to look like the set of Rick's in the movie! Can you say tourist trap?
From there we moved on to the open air market. They had everything from fresh fish, beef, lamb, duck, all hanging on meat hooks in front of the stall, plus fresh vegetables, fruit, and flowers. The photo below is one of the fruit and vegetable stands.
Next stop of course was at the area for shopping. (I think the guide gets a cut of what is spent at these places.) Cindy and I are such big shoppers we were done in about 5 minutes. We did get our photo taken with these water men or water sellers. They hang out around the bazaars and sell cups of water to the customers as they shop for goods. I think these guys just hang around the city so they can charge the tourists to have their photo taken with them. This photo costme a buck so you better enjoy it. If you looked at it you owe me a nickel! Got to make my money back somehow.
Bill & I thought one of the most impressive site in Casablanca is the Hassan II Mosque. The size of it is amazing -- the mosque itself holds 20,000 people, and an additional 80,000 people fit on the grounds inside the plaza. This mosque is HUGE! It took 8 years and a total of $700 million (donated by the citizens of Casablanca) to build. The detail of the design, mostly in mosaic, is unbelievable. We could not enter the mosque since it was Friday which is the holy day for Muslims, but we did get to peek inside. There were no altars, chairs or pews (as we're used to) but instead, carpets for the worshipers to kneel on.
After touring Casablanca, we got back on the bus for the 90-minute ride to Rabat, Morocco's capital city. In Rabat, we visited the grounds of the king's palace, then the mausoleum that contains the remains of the current king's grandfather, father and uncle. Later we toured some 12th century Roman ruins. We never realized the scope of the Roman empire! (Or should I say, maybe we didn't pay enough attention in history class.)
Our last stop was one of the highlights of our whole trip so far, the Kasbah, which is a walled community encompassing hundreds of homes, plus some shops. It is unlike anything we've ever seen. No lawns, no roads, just concrete paths making narrow alleys throughout the place. As Bill said, "If they knocked down those outer walls, they'd have a great view of the ocean." Originally the walls provided protection from invaders, but now that threat no longer exists. The Kasbah is like a world of its own.
Now that we have 3 sea days, we probably won't be adding any posts until after Banjul on the 9th.
2 comments:
Last night we just went to a Xmas party where we danced to "Rock the Kasbah!" :)
I forgot to tell you, the title of your post reminds me of when the song was in Sleepless in Seattle - not Casablanca. Ha!
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