Casablanca was a city that took my breath away. I thought it would be some rural city in the middle of the desert…but I was wrong. The grandeur and beauty of the city and its people amazed me. The care that they have taken and the modernization of their city was amazing. Below you’ll see a number of pictures of the city.
Casablanca lures visitors with its heady mix of neo-Moorish splendor and French influence. Known as “Casa” to locals, its streets exude an atmosphere of bygone days. Made famous by the 1942 eponymous film, today it is one of Africa’s most important ports. Parisian-style boulevards unfold past cafés and colonial buildings. The city’s medina is a maze of warrens pulsing with old-world energy, the hollers of carpet merchants and the fragrance of incense. The most impressive structure is the Hassan II Mosque, the country’s largest and most magnificent.
Mom & I went on the City of White tour, which took us to A Massive Mosque amid a French-Flavored Gem. We experienced the fascinating allure of this thriving North African city and saw the largest mosque outside of Mecca. Our guide took us to view the exterior of the massive Hassan II Mosque, set atop a scenic perch over the Atlantic and we marveled at the enormous scale of its 60-story minaret: The building and courtyard can host more than 100,000 worshippers.
We continued along the corniche to the Habous Quarter (New Medina), stopping to admire the Royal Palace, a masterpiece of Islamic architecture and past the Casablanca Cathedral. This neo-Gothic masterpiece, which once served the French Roman Catholic population here, became secular after Morocco’s independence and is now a cultural center. Finally, we stopped at the Place des Nations Unies, or United Nations Square, once the city’s main market and today surrounded by Moorish and art deco buildings and did some shopping for family and friends.
Very early in the morning we went through the straits of Gibraltar and I was able to at least get a picture of the lights on either side of the ship as we passed through…unfortunately at night!
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