Explore Morocco: Two Days in Casablanca

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I’m going to share some photos of our recent trip to Morocco…from April. It’s taken me a while to go through the photos and write about our trip, but better late than never! We will start with Casablanca.

First Day in Casablanca

Our AirBnB host had specified a 1pm check in, but our overnight flight from Montreal to Casablanca arrived really early. The taxi ride into the city was about 30-40 minutes. We first drove through verdant green countryside as the sun rose, before entering the labyrinth of city streets. Despite the lack of sleep, I couldn’t help but smile – I could see palm trees, minarets, and donkey carts! The traffic was crazy and we could see how all the banged up cars got that way.

Our driver dropped us off outside a big hotel near our apartment. It was only about 8:30 am so we took a stroll with our bags, looking for breakfast. We passed by some cafes with sidewalk tables, but people were only sipping small cups of coffee. We finally found a little hole in the wall cafe where we ate breakfast. Everyone was eating what looked like fresh whole wheat bread filled with cooked hot egg and melted cheese, so we got some too! I got a super weak, super sweet, super milky cafe au lait (just the way I like it!).

After a bit of hanging around, we could check in a bit early. We changed and had a nap, getting up around 4 pm to hunt for dinner. Due to our naps, we missed lunch, so we were quite hungry. After some research, we decided to wander through the medina on our way to Rick’s Cafe. Casablanca isn’t touristy at all, except for Rick’s Cafe.

The view from our window!

The medina consisted of narrow alleys, with no cars, just dozens of motorbikes and pedestrians. People sold fruits, vegetables, lutes, electronics, repaired machinery… it was a great local market for real people, just like the Mercado Bazurto in Cartagena!

Lots of the markets had gorgeous, giant artichokes piled high. After we ate our way through Casablanca and Marrakech, however, we didn’t see them on any menu until the very end!

We arrived at Rick’s Cafe and were able to get a table upstairs. It was just 6 pm so it wasn’t busy, but it looked like the restaurant was fully booked for dinner at 8. The cafe opened in 2004 and is supposed to be a recreation of the bar from the movie Casablanca. We sat right next to a large front room overlooking the street outside. This large room had a TV in the corner which played Casablanca non-stop (thankfully on silent). The waiters were the only locals, and fezzes were part of their uniform. All the patrons seemed to be tourists like ourselves. A table of two women next to us ordered an enormous amount of food and then spent their dinner looking at their phones instead of the beautiful decor.

Ryan ordered a foie gras on poached apples to start, and the lamb tagine with prunes fried in sesame seeds as a main. I got the chicken tagine with preserved lemon and green olives – a taste of what was to come later in our trip! Our dishes came with three vegetable sides: cold cooked carrots and peas with fresh mint and olive oil; boiled cauliflower; and roasted potatoes with chili and cumin. We were so full we didn’t even have any room for dessert!

We had to get up early the next morning to catch a train to Marrakech, so after dinner we returned to our apartment for a good night’s sleep. In the morning we got our train and spent 5 days in Marrakech, returning to Casablanca one day before our flight back to Toronto.

 

Last Day in Casablanca

After spending five days in Marrakech, we returned to Casablanca a day before our flight back to Toronto. We took a cab to see the Hassan II Mosque on the ocean.

Entrance only cost 120 Dh, and we arrived just in time for the 4 pm English tour (the last of the day). This mosque is the third largest in the world, after the big ones in Mecca and Medina respectively. The guide was very knowledgeable and told us that the mosque is almost entirely made with Moroccan materials (the chandeliers are made of Murano glass, and there are two Carrera marble panels). The mosque really is massive, fitting 20,000 people inside and 80,000 in the square outside. We visited on a Friday, and the guide said that during the midday prayer, he was one of about 10,000 people inside. There is a raised wooden platform that hangs above the carpeted main floor, for the women to pray. The mosque even has a retractable roof!

It’s hard to see from some of my photos, but the mosque is massive. The minaret is 210 m tall, and the photos with people in them really show the scale!

The King of Morocco has his own door and walkway down the centre of the mosque to the front that is normally covered with red carpet.

The mosaics and carvings were spectacular!

The photo above shows the Murano glass chandeliers, along with the raised wooden platform that is the women’s prayer area.

The above photo shows the King’s walkway. When he attends the mosque, a red carpet paves his way. He also has his own door!

The windows overlook the ocean.

Artisans chisel the ceramic tiles by hand.

Worshipers perform their ablutions downstairs in a beautiful tiled ‘bath’ room. There were dozens of large flower-shaped fountains throughout, but these only turn on for special occasions. Most of the time people use the taps along the wall.

The courtyard outside, a massive tiled area, reflected the bright sun into a cloudless sky.

After our hour-long tour, Ryan and I wandered for our dinner. We couldn’t find much along the coast, which had a lot of construction and office buildings. Eventually we made it to La Sqala, where we sat in the breezy garden courtyard. Ryan ate black rice risotto with prawns, and I had the tasty lamb tagine with peas and artichokes. This was the only time we ever saw artichokes on a menu!

Then it was early to bed. We had to d wake up at 4 am the next morning to catch our flight back to Toronto.