Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 90/96 - Casablanca, Morocco - Round Up The Usual Suspects
We basked in our extra hour of sleep this morning but were still up early for our 8:30 meeting time for the Casablanca Highlights tour. While this is our second day docking in Casablanca, Morocco, we spent the entire day yesterday traveling to, from, and in Marrakech so we didn't see much of Casablanca.
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| Passing the port police station as we exited the port |
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| Passing the famous Rick's Cafe, made famous in the movie, Casablanca |
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| The funny thing is that the entire movie was filmed on sound stages - nothing was filmed in Casablanca |
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| Even funnier - this Rick's Cafe is owned by an American woman and opened only about 20 years ago |
Our first stop was at the mosque dedicated to King Hassan II, a former leader (deceased) of Morocco. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, sitting at #14 on the list of largest mosques. It can support 25,000 worshipers inside and another 80,000 outside for a total of 105,000 simultaneous worshipers. Its minaret is 689 feet tall and is impressive to see. Everything in and on the mosque is incredibly ornate - a testament to the 10,000 craftsmen who completed the project in only seven years.
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| If you look closely, you can see people standing at the bottom of the minaret, helping to show the massive scale of it |
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| Adjacent buildings |
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| A portion of the massive outdoor worship space |
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| Look about halfway up and you can see a platform |
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| That is where the muezzin stands as he recites the call to prayer five times each day |
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| Impressive and ornate details were all over the outside of the mosque |
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| The nearby El Hank lighthouse as the mosque is right at the ocean, built on top of land reclaimed from the sea |
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| Approaching the entrance |
The interior was gorgeous. Ornate wood and plaster, marble, mosaic tiles - you name it, they had it. When you see this place, it's hard to believe how it was completed in only seven years. They reportedly had workers and craftsmen working 24 hours each day, seven days each week.
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| The indoor worship space - 20,000 men worshiped here and 5,000 women worshiped on the side balconies |
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| The semicircular niche where the imam says the prayers five times daily |
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| Notice the light coming up from the floor midway up |
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| The King's doorway |
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| These doors were massive and electrically operated |
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| The ceilings were just as beautiful as everything else |
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| The women's worship balconies |
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| A closer look at that light coming up through the floor - these were windows to the ablution room below |
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| The main roof section is electrically operated as the two sides slide open - it is used to improve air circulation when the mosque is full - the side doors electrically open as well, allowing fresh air in and it vents through the roof |
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| The King's family tree is etched and painted with liquid gold |
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| A pulpit for the preacher |
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| Stairs down to the ablution room |
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| More massive doors to the outside |
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| The entry to the ablution room |
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| There are lots of tripping hazards |
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| The ablution room has multiple lotus-shaped fountains where worshipers perform ritual ablution or cleansing before praying |
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| The men and women have separate rooms - this is the women's ablution room |
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| If all the fountains are full, there are multiple spigots along the wall - they wash hands, wrists, forearms, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, and feet before praying |
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| It was a great stop - we have been to multiple mosques all over the world and this was one of the more impressive ones |
We continued on our tour.
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| An interesting juxtaposition - Mickey D's and a minaret |
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| Driving along the ocean after touring a residential area and passing by the king's home - it wasn't really visible |
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| Our stop for a soda |
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| Najet - our amazing guide - one of the best we've had |
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| African daisy |
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| When was the last time you saw a can with a pull tab? |
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| Of course, Arlona made a chain |
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| As we traveled to different areas of the city, different styles of architecture appeared in each section |
Our next stop was the Church of Notre Dame of Lourdes.
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| It was Sunday so a service was in progress - this one was in French |
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| The stained glass was amazing |
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| A prayer grotto |
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| Approached the Royal Palace |
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| An interesting arch on the street outside the palace |
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| The main entrance to the palace |
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| The yard outside the entrance |
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| We left the palace and walked down the street |
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| Yet another mosque - one of 200 in the city - this one was in The HaboDistrictict 12 |
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| More interesting doors |
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| A door knocker - the fist of Fatima representing good luck and protection against the evil eye |
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| Passing by the back of the palace - that door is open when the King is in residence |
Our next stop was a photo stop at Mohammed V Square.
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| Court of First Instance |
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| Court of First Instance |
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| The former Sacred Heart Cathedral- now an art institute |
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| Casablanca Grand Theater |
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The Excelsior Hotel sounded better than it looked
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| Look at all the birds on the wires - oh, and some guy taking photos |
We ended our tour at United Nations Square and wandered around the medina. We didn't find anything interesting to buy so we caught the shuttle bus and returned to the ship.
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| Arriving back at the port |
We sailed from Casablanca at about 6:00.
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| The number of seagulls that hung out on the shipping containers was crazy |
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| Arlona caught this sunset behind the mosque, with hundreds of seagulls flying |
After pre-dinner cocktails, we enjoyed dinner with friends. We also made plans for a farewell dinner on the last night of the cruise. It's still hard wrapping our heads around the fact that this trip is coming to a close.
Tonight's show featured the Seabourn Six singers and dancers with the band. They sang songs from One Direction, U2, Jackson Five, The Rembrandts, and more.
It was a fun show and we enjoyed it.
Tonight, we lose the hour that we gained last night. Morocco made the shift to Daylight Saving Time early to align with Ramadan and that happened overnight last night. Now that we have left Morocco, we have to align with the rest of the area and switch back to UTC+1 where we'll remain until we fly home on Saturday.
Tomorrow, we'll arrive in Gibraltar around 10:00. We have nothing planned since we've been to Gibraltar multiple times. We will see how motivated we feel tomorrow and that will determine what we decide to do. Now, to set the clock forward an hour...
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