[Worldtrippers home] [World Cruise home]

April 27, 2024
Casablanca, Morocco

Downtown Casablanca and UN Plaza, featuring Casablanca’s official motto

Casablanca is a travel destination on many bucket lists, mainly because of the 1940 movie with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. In reality, Casablanca bears little resemblance to the movie, which was filmed in California.

Casablanca has been occupied by the Berbers, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Portuguese and the French. The name means “white house,” but there is some mystery as to what the white house was (possibly a white tower). Today, Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and chief port.

Russell escorted the three-hour “Casablanca Walking Tour & Rick’s Café” excursion. Guests walked downtown through both the modern art deco architecture and the Old Medina (old town). The highlight of the tour was a stop for a drink at “Rick’s Café.” This restaurant and bar, which celebrates 20 years in 2024, was designed to recreate the bar from the movie. (Russell was surprised nobody ever thought of this sooner.) Guests also saw the Hassan II Mosque, the second-largest religious monument in the world (after Mecca), but were not allowed to go inside.

The real Casablanca bears little resemblance to the 1940 movie

Much of the modern city features art deco architecture

The influence of the movie can be see in every souvenir shop

At the Central Market, you can buy anything from meat to fish to vegetables

This street marks the boundary between the Modern City (left) and the Old Medina (right)

And this is the market in the Old Medina, Bab Marrakech Bazaars Blvd

A “tagine” has come to mean a certain type of prepared dish, but it originally referred to the little clay oven the dish was cooked in. Gail would love to buy one, but can’t figure out how to get it home.

Rick’s Café is a bit of a tourist trap, as evidenced by the crowd of people standing in the rain waiting to get in

Inside Rick’s Café

Russell got to sit in the balcony alcove (which you can see above in the exterior photo)

Russell at the bar of Rick’s Café

Meanwhile, Gail escorted the six-hour “Moroccan Cooking Class” excursion. As she would later describe it, her excursion “struck gold.” Because the cooking class was not ready yet, the guide asked if guests would like to visit the Hassan II Mosque. Not only did they visit, but they got to go inside. At 9:30 am, the Mosque was almost deserted, and Gail felt like part of a private tour.

The cooking class was really more of a demonstration; Gail was not able to do any actual cooking. However, guests were treated to a nice lunch of tagine-cooked Moroccan food.

It rained several times throughout the day, so by the time we met up again after our excursions, we decided to stay warm and dry aboard ship for the rest of the day.