January 26^th, 2024

It was a very hazy morning, it was difficult to see anything out of our cabin, but we were still in Casablanca and excited to head out on our Iconic Casablanca tour.

After the chaos of yesterday’s tour we were hoping for things to go more smoothly.

We started off by driving through Casablanca past the walled old Medina, and Ricks Café where we will have lunch,

to the Hassan ll Mosque. This is the 3^rd largest mosque in the world, and the construction was completed in only 7 years. The construction of a small addition to our house has taken well over 18 months so far, and is not yet completed, so I was very impressed with the 7 year time frame for this edifice.

It is only slightly smaller than St Peter’s in Rome, and 25,000 worshipers can fit inside the mosque, with another 80,000 in the grounds outside. It really was very beautiful, and we spent ages wandering around.

Women are not allowed to sit with the men and have a separate area where they go to pray. The woman are on the upper level with the men below.

Underneath the main floor is the ablution area where you go to wash up before praying, and this was also amazing.

All in all it was a wonderful experience.

Our guide said there was a fantastic view of the mosque from across the bay, so we climbed into the coach again, thinking we would get a great photo op. Unfortunately, it was an extremely hazy day and we could only just make out the mosque in the distance, not what we had hoped for at all.

Our next stop was the Habbous Quarter where we walked through the alleyways and past interesting little shops to the music museum.

They have a great collection of traditional Moroccan musical instruments, and we watched a video on Andalusian Moroccan music. It was fascinating, and they even have a Stradivarius violin which was a gift to the museum from the king.

We then did a tour of modern Casablanca which is a beautiful city with wide palm lined boulevards and a wide range of interesting architectural styles.

There is Moorish architecture. There are the beautiful Art Nouveau, and Art Deco buildings, and then there is the less attractive more modern area of the city. Quite a mixture, but it all contributes to making Casablanca a very interesting city.

Lunch was at Rick’s Café, named for the café of the same name in the movie Casablanca. We had a private room with a view of the port. The food was excellent.

It was a  welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the world outside. I know it is really a tourist trap, but I loved it there, and listening to the piano music in the background I was quite happy to spend the rest of the afternoon there.

Our final stop of the day was meant to be at the Slaoui museum. The museum displays the collection old posters, Moroccan jewelry, figurative paintings by Muhammad Ben Ali Rabati, landscape paintings by Jacques Majorelle, and various crystal objects. I was quite confused trying to work out what the theme to the museum must be as it was quite a mixture of items on display. Our guide explained that it was a donation from the collections of Abderrahman Slaoui, who clearly had very eclectic tastes.

I was ready to return to the ship by now, but our guide decided we needed a shopping experience, and we stopped at a souvenir shop near United Nations Square. We did go in and look at the shop, but there really wasn’t anything there half as interesting as what we had seen during our stroll in the Habbous Quarter this morning. I was actually quite annoyed by this unexpected delay in getting back to the Balmoral. Finally we all got back into the coach again and headed back to the port.

Back in our cabin we were greeted by yet another very cute little towel creature. We now are taking care of 3 of them, and the cabin is getting crowded. I think Brian would secretly like to get rid of them, but I love them. They are so bizarre.

There was no sail away party, but I sat on the balcony and watched us slowly glide out of the harbor.

After dinner the Balmoral Show Company treated us to a very high energy 45 minutes of rock and roll music and dance. It was a fun production.

It had been a good day. I had been concerned that we would feel unsafe, and be pestered by locals trying to sell us stuff, but we have felt perfectly safe and everyone has been so welcoming. I am really enjoying Morocco.

Here’s looking at you Casablanca!