~ Marrakech to Casablanca ~
After a luxurious sleep in an air conditioned room (we slept under the doona – yay!) and a delicious buffet breakfast it was time to hit the road! We were introduced briefly (throwing our names at each other as we made our way to the 17 seater bus – also air conditioned thank goodness) to our two new tour mates who had arrived overnight and our bus driver and we were on our way. 

The 2h40min (241.5km) journey to Casablanca seemed to wiz by as we chatted – starting to get to know each other (we were certainly the least prepared for this experience). We all went quiet after a while as we sat and watched the interesting and changing scenery we were passing (including some of the people). The first thing we all noted was how clean the country was compared to how we thought it may be as well as how good the roads were. The landscape was relatively flat and dry with minimal vegetation. Along the way we were given the days briefing, some background information and history on both Morocco in general and the city of Casablanca.

Casablanca, made famous by Humphrey Bogart in the film “Casablanca”, is a port city and commercial hub in western Morocco, fronting the Atlantic Ocean. The city is a blend of Moorish style and European art deco. As the country’s economic capital, one can find lots of art galleries, fashion designers, industry and money. However, it seems to be a city full of contradictions. Home to wide boulevards, well-kept public parks, fountains and striking colonial architecture, but is also fringed by large shanty towns and simmering social problems. We certainly passed all of these different features on a drive to the waterfront for a bit of a stroll and some lunch. 

Where we walked was almost like a cliff high above the beach which was stretches of sand with swarms of people. At first we were not sure that all of the figures were people, we thought we must be seeing things due to the sheer volume. But no, everyone it seemed was soaking up the boiling sun at the beach! Walking around we were offered a variety of different things to purchase. The hardest people to say no to are always the children. Once we were about to melt from the heat we tried to find food. Mohamed recommended a restaurant and we enjoyed our meals and good conversation as we talked about why we decided to come to Morocco and what we were most excited about. Next we headed to the Hassan II Mosque.

The Hassan II Mosque is the world’s third-largest mosque, the largest inMorocco, built to commemorate the former king’s 60th birthday. The mosque (and its 210m minaret) rises above the ocean on an outcrop northwest of the medina, and holds 25,000 worshippers and a further 80,000 in the squares around it. It is truly an impressive sight, such a large and decorated building with the ocean as a backdrop. We ran around trying to take it all in and snapping some beautiful photos long the way. To be able to see the stunning inside of the mosque you must go on a guided tour, so we headed in to meet our group. Awe-inspiring is the only was to describe it. There is so much detail everywhere that you look, it is hard to take it all in at once. As we walked around gawking at all the hand-made work and vast space, our guide told us details about the mosque and its operations. It was made in approximately 7 years,  is estimated to have cost as much as $800 million, and around 1,400 men worked by day and 1,000 worked by night to bring the vast project to completion. There is an automated sliding roof opens (on special occasions) to the heavens (and the weather). Nearly all the materials of the Hassan II Mosque are from Morocco, with the sole exceptions of the imported white granite columns and glass chandeliers (from Murano, near Venice). The marble is from Agandir, the cedar wood is from the Middle Atlas and the granite comes from Tafraoute. Over 6,000 Moroccan master craftsmen and artisans were employed to work these local materials into the intricate decorations that embellish the entire structure. 


Once our tour of the mosque was finished, we headed to our hotel. The decorations were outstanding! Colour everywhere, all sorts of different patterns and styles that you didn’t think would/should match or go together at all but the Moroccan people sort of made this style work! My room was quite green and the girls had leopard print bedspreads! Madness. After relaxing for a bit we needed to refill our water supply and went off to find a supermarket. The funny bellhop (who had escorted us to our rooms and proceeded to explain how everything in our room worked in Arabic…) was downstairs and practically walked us down the street to the supermarket (how sweet! And a little odd). We saw a glimpse of the famous Casablanca tram (apparently the 4th best thing to do in Casablanca according to trip-advisor) and then went for a wander into town to find some dinner. This part of Casablanca seemed to be more of the run-down part. The suburb was quite bleak, either lots of the pavements and buildings unfinished/broken and a lots seemingly abandoned. We found a nice place for diner that Mohamed had again recommended and I enjoyed my first taste of “real” Moroccan food – couscous! It was delicious! We headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night as we had a big day of touring tomorrow. We didn’t really love Casablanca and would probably suggest to others – go for the mosque, then go somewhere else.