Casablanca

Casablanca... just a reminder the internet on the ship is dire so I'm sorry if I'm not acknowledging comments and emails... we are just posting whenever we get wifi... shopping malls.... coffee shops ashore .  Anyway back to Casablanca...  huge busy city... dirty noisy and not at all like Marakech but nicer than Agadir.... we couldnt find a beer though🤔.   While 'sightseeing' we are averaging about 10 miles a day we are cream crackered and after a day out today to be honest we are feeling a bit citied out.

 Casablanca is very big and its hard to get your bearings.  We looked fruitlessly for tourist info - which was marked on the map but not evident on the street and decided to just make do and head for the medina. This is a very different but real aspect of Morocco. Not so much casa blanca as casa demolition.

The medina is the oldest bit of town and its small narrow streets are in various states of decay and the main throughfares have small shops selling everything you could imagine...live chickens to toothbrushes.. carpets to gold jewelry... so its like one large bazaar... more ethnic than Agadir but still very much more 21st century than I recall Marakech being.  We walked through the maze of streets... there is no order here and occasionally roads just stop at a dead end-it's hard to look purposeful when you are in a cul de sac with 15 cats 5 motorbikes and a potentially derelict building🙂..

In some places buildings have apparently just fallen down... debris everywhere bits of huge stoneware just hanging... some of it is cleared bit alot is left lying there.  The roads are quite clean but there are piles of litter every now and again and 100s of stray cats.  We had been warned to avoid the many stray dogs but they were not very evident - it was all moggies. 

There were less western tourists than I had expected  - in fact any we encountered seemed to be from our ship.  We wandered aimlessly looking like we knew where we were🤣🤣 through the medina and out the other side looking for the coast hoping to find a nice coffee shop - what we foumd was a huge modern shopping mall (and most of the ship guests).. but with clean loos and loads of coffee shops and free wifi! 

While on the ship we had be told to be vigilant about our belongings and careful etc... and as we travel alot we are quite good at this and avoid being ripped off or (mostly) putting ourselves in silly situations.  So it was a huge disappointment that having gone to an 'upmarket' coffee shop they tried to give us the wrong change - when I pointed out that they had given change for 100 and we had given them 200 they were hesitant for a second and then rectified the mistake... Instinct tells me they knew and it wasn't an 'honest' mistake.... 

We went to visit the Hassan ll Mosque - it's stunning and well worth a visit but again we were misled... I had left my shawl on the ship and when we bought tickets I asked the chap if I could still enter the Mosque although I couldn't cover my arms and head he said yes no problem you are tourist.... when we get to the entrance they wouldnt let me in ... I had to put Dr Freds shirt on which fortunately he had on over a tee shirt... crap really to have shelled out 15 quid to be refused entry!!!

Any way it was incredibly beautiful inside, huge and very ornate and I'm pleased I managed to get in.  

We walked back into town... once again getting hopelessly lost in the Medina but finally coming out exactly where we went in... Dr Fred is an amazing human sat nav!!!....

 still searching for a nonexistant beer.. 

Casablanca is a sprawling economic city... its not really a tourist destination... it was interesting to visit but we might not bother to go back in tomorrow.  Ricks bar - (which incidentally is really in Tangiers - as was all the spy stuff and in fact even the film was shot mostly in the studio in London)  was closed so we couldnt even do the movie buff stuff! 

Eventually we had seen enough sights and headed back to our cabin... after a week it feels like home 🤣we had a bath.. courtesy of upgrade and then got dolled up for formal night... its Burns night but although it got a mention we've not seen hide nor hair of a haggis... but then again the food is disappointing... we are all the way to Casablanca and get offered Lancashire Hotpot...there is no attempt at food that might be location appropriate. Missed opportunity - the cheese, salad and starters selection offered is good but pretty much the same everyday but the 'hot' food is boring and often cold.  There are a lot of complaints... me - I'm just happy to be served and cleaned up after🙂.