Less than 24 hours in Casablanca

I arrived in Casablanca, off the train from Tangier on Sunday afternoon (3^rd July).  As I walked out the station, I was directed to the ‘taxi rouge’ (red taxi).  Having done my reading on the train, I knew these to be equivalent to the petit blue taxis in Tangier: i.e. small vehicles, operating on a metered charge basis, for individual use (as opposed to the ‘grand taxis’ that take multiple passengers, and don’t leave until they are fully loaded); or at least so I thought…

I got into a taxi, and was greeted by a guy speaking very good English.  Initially, I thought he was the driver (forgetting - again, that I’m still in left-hand-drive country).  As it turned out, he was the tour leader for ‘Gap’ adventures, and was headed to the same hotel as me (Hotel Casablanca is apparently the start-point for Gap, Intrepid and Gecko!)  Shortly after, another passenger got in beside me, and with a full load we were ready to go.  I was very glad that I had the Gap tour-guide in the vehicle with me; otherwise I would have wondered whether I was headed for the right place (having not expected to share in this manner).  And, as it turns out, the third passenger (who spoke very little English) was heading for another destination entirely.

After checking in at the hotel I figured that I should attempt to see some of the city (our tour had us leaving Casa the next morning – with a trip to the mosque the only part of the city included in our organised itinerary).  I headed down to reception for what was to be a highly frustrating conversation):

Q. Do you know if my tour group is meeting tonight?  A. I don’t know, maybe 6pm, maybe 7, maybe 8… (at 3pm, there was no sign for the Gecko tour group; a bit frustrating that this wasn’t clear, as I wasn’t sure how much time I had to ‘play’ with).

Q. Do you have a map of the city? A. No – and the shop with maps is closed.

Q. Where do you recommend I go? A. Go to sleep now… it’s too hot outside.  (Me): But I only have one afternoon in this city; I want to see some of it! (and I didn’t think the heat seemed too bad – less than Seville at least!). Answer to this was a shrug…

This whole frustrating conversation was completed with the receptionist looking at my camera and telling me that I shouldn’t go outside wearing it like that – indicating that someone would try to grab it.  When I asked how I should carry it he said to leave it in my room!  At this point, rather than being frustrated, I was quite astonished… I showed him that it was slung across my body, and he said “maybe they take you too”!! 

I absolutely could not believe that in the middle of the afternoon, on a fairly busy street, that things could be quite as dire as this guy was trying to indicate.  Travelling alone (and not being particularly brave, or crazy) I think I’m fairly sensible about where I go, but typically I figure that if it’s the middle of the day and there are a reasonable number of people around doing their usual daily business, then I’m probably going to be about as safe as I would be anywhere .

I ventured down the street to see what I could see.  Not far from the hotel was a small local market (fruit and vegetables etc.), and further on was a medium sized supermarket – where I decided to stock up on a few items and return with these to the hotel before heading back out.  That was all I was to see of Casa… shortly after arriving back at the hotel  I began to feel a little queasy, and for the next few hours I moped around in my room – alternating between collapsing on the bed, and attempting to get up “must see some of the city”… Eventually I fell asleep.  I did manage to drag myself down to reception a little later in the evening, and – by fluke – managed to time it right to meet up with my group.  Not wanting to be the antisocial one on our first meeting, I headed out to dinner with a few of them – mistake… I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and crawl into bed. 

The next 12 hours were fairly miserable, and don’t need to be expanded upon in any great detail here. 

The next morning, all I really wanted to do was curl up in bed and hibernate.  But, the downsize of being part of a group is that you have to keep moving according to the schedule (the up-side, is that someone else does all the thinking for you, so at least I just had to drag my body from A-B, and not engage any neural functions!)

Before leaving Casa, we went to visit the Hassan II Mosque – the third largest in the world.  It’s like a massive football stadium! (Inside can accommodate 25,000 worshippers and the squares around it another 80,000).  The building is really amazing – it combines the beauty and intricacy of Islamic design with modern engineering and building materials (it took 6 years to build; which is amazing given how enormous and ornate it is, and I think was finished around 1993?).  It has a sliding roof – again, just like a stadium – and amazing chandeliers that can be lowered electrically for cleaning.  If you only get to see one thing in Casablanca (as I did), this building wouldn't be a bad choice!!