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Cruising Casablanca

Cruising Casablanca

  • Author: Meg Jerrard
  • Date Posted: Mar 24, 2013
  • Category:
  • Address: casablanca

From the Travel Journal of Ian Donoghue

Casablanca

 

Awoke at 6am to witness the sun rise over the Moroccan coast and the arrival of the ship in Casablanca. Overcast and raining, with minimal visibility, so I went back to bed.   When I did get up an hour later, I witnessed to coolest parking yet – a couple of hundred metres going sideways.  Very cool.

Sunrise over Casablanca. Photo by

Sunrise over Casablanca. Photo by Milamber’s portfolio

Went for a walk around part of the town – admittedly we did not see all of the town, but what we did see is what all tourists from cruise ships would see  – dirty, bad infrastructure, roads, decaying buildings etc.

The roads are chaotic – makes Rome and Milan look wonderful.

They have obviously developed a new language based on the car horn – all you hear is car horns.

Obviously a lot of unemployment, as people standing around with nothing to do.

Old, although the Moroccans say that Casablanca is a relatively modern town, but not as historic or significant as what they call the Imperial Cities such as Rabat, Fez, and Marrakech, or the international city (former free zone), Tangier.

Another movie myth busted.  A town not to come back to.

Rabat

We took an afternoon tour, which after a 1½ hour drive from Casablanca, took us to the city of Rabat, where we saw the Royal Palace, although we weren’t able to go inside, then to the Mohammed V mausoleum, which stands in the ruins of an ancient mosque and then to the Kasbah and the old Medina, before heading back to the ship.

Contrast to Casablanca was stark.  Rabat is the admin and political capital – infrastructure was pretty good, big wide open spaces, good footpaths and roads and clean.  Obviously helps that the King and Prime Minister live and work in the town!

An approx 1 hour trip one way took 1½ en-route and over two on then way back.  Missed our dinner reservation – Ian not happy.  Talking with others afterwards, this was the most disorganized tour/day that we have been on.

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    14 Comments

  1. Hi
    You mentioning the car horns continually beeping why going through Casablanca instantly bought back memories of driving through agadir last February when we went for a surf trip to taghazout. That hour in the car was the scariest hours driving I have had in my life. The surf was excellent though.

    Great stuff barry

    • Hi Barry! I’m glad the post brought back memories – it’s funny how the simple sound of car horns can remind you so vividly of a destination! So glad to hear you survived your driving experience though!

      We would love to learn how to surf, so will have to look at planning a trip to Taghazout; we recently tried surfing in Costa Rica, but would love to continue learning. Thanks for the tip!

      Happy New Year!

  2. Hello, this post remembered me when I was there several years ago. Thanks for the information and greetings

    • Glad you enjoyed the post Laura – happy travels!

  3. Hi Megan Casablanca and Rabat are definitely not among the Must see parts of Morocco. I say that being a Moroccan myself. You should definitely come back to the country and discover the interesting parts. I have some posts about Morocco and will be adding some more. Happy travels.

    • Thanks for the tips Imad – I would definitely love to get to Morocco and explore more than just the cruise ports. Hoping we’ll have the chance sometime soon … will jump over to your blog and check out your posts :)

  4. I couldn’t see you mentioning the Morocco’s Food Stall: DJemaa El Fna Square listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saw about it in a Travel Channel. Looked amazing!

    • Thanks for the tip Raushan! I will have to check it out :)

  5. Great Informative Article!!!

    • Thanks Santosh! Glad you enjoyed the post :)

  6. Nice article about Casablanca sun rise views

    • Thanks Himal, glad you enjoyed the post :)

  7. not better sunrise views than Nepal, if you be on nepal mountains then much more Himalayas views with sunrise.

    • We hope to see the Nepalese sunrise one day for ourselves, I have heard many magical things about it :)

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