"Here's looking at you kid" Humphery Bogart "Casablanca"

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Yes, we are in Casablanca. Lynda has been having some mobility issues. When we walk any distance at all she needs a cane, so we planned our excursions off of the boat accordingly.  This mornings excursion was another drive by like yesterday so we figured there would be no problem. What we did not plan on was the very long walk from the ship to the terminal where we boarded the bus. Lynda took one look at the distance and told Tim "have a good time, I'm going back to the cabin."  So this blog is from Tim's perspective. 

I'm not sure what I expected in Casablance but it wasn't a city of four million people, at times falling apart, other times elegant but poorly maintained, and other times modern shopping areas.  But there were highlights.  The first was the Hassan II Mosque, the largest mosque in Africa and third largest in the world. 100,000 people can pray in this Mosque at one time; 25,000 inside the  Mosque and another 75,000 in the huge open area court outside the Mosque.  Very beautiful and impressive.  Our guide seemed quite impressed with the beaches along the Atlantic Ocean.  I did not find them nearly as nice as the beaches and ajoining restaurants and hotels in Cadiz.  We did walk through an area built about a century ago for people moving from the nearby mountains into  Casablanca that was interesting. There was a large government building with a number bookstores on the same street.  Our guide kept referring to them as a library.  We then walked through a small market area with shops of leather goods, clothing, mostly kafkas (think hajibs but worn by both men and women) and metal works. There was also a small market dedicated to olives, at least 11 variaties, in large open containers that were purchased by the pound or the metric equivalent.  The final stop on this brief walking tour was the Kings Palace.  We only saw the outside entrance which was only semi impressive. Our last stop was free time to shop for souvenirs. Our past experience has been that this was a shop the cruise line had a deal with. For the novice traveler this was a good deal as it was safe, the goods for sale were of a reasonably good quality and prices were not outrageous. I made a brief tour through this shop and then went across the road to the old town area where the more traditional shops were.  Two different men tried to force me to their shops off the street where I probably would have been taken advantage of. I strongly refused both offers. But, on the other hand, this was more authentic and fun to walk through then the place our guide had taken us..

Our ship has too upscale restaurants that, while there is no upcharge, reservations are required. We ate tonight at the steak house agreeing to share a table with two other people. We expected to greet another couple at our table but instead met two English women, one a divorced women our age from the Essex area of England and the other an older woman, either divorced or widowed, from Guernsey Island. Both were delightful dinner companions and we enjoyed an excellent meal. After dinner we attended out first show in the theater.  It was a Hollywood Movie Musical review. The singing, dancing, costumes and choreography were all top draw.  Tim's only complaint was the music was all prerecorded and over amplified so the singers had to wear microphones which, of course, made the whole production too loud.  Still, it was excellent and a wonderful way to end an enjoyaable evening.