Casablanca, Morocco - "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world..."

Rick's Café

Once again a two week UK trip came up for work.  I negotiated one last trip from my significant other for the weekend I would be out there (since she'd still be at home and wasn't happy about it).  I took a look a few weeks before I was out there to see how unique of a place I could get to with direct flights from London knowing I'd only have a couple days.  One of the options that popped up to the top was a flight Thursday night by Royal Maroc to Casablanca!  Knowing very little about the city or the country it was in I went ahead and bought a ticket.

Hassan II Mosque

It turns out I learned a lot while I was there.  I showed up towards the end of Ramadan and was asked when I showed up if I would be fasting with everyone else!  I did a crash course of French on the plane ride over but still was an utter failure when questioned in Arabic/French as I entered the country.  Fortunately in most cases people knew English so I was able to navigate my way through the city.

Hassan II Mosque was definitely a highlight and is an exception to the rule as it is open to the public to look around.  Sadly, my favorite experience was probably at Rick's Café which was recreated by an American expatriate to mimic the fictional gin joint in the movie Casablanca.  The food was good, they had local beverages, and I ran into a Australian couple from South of Perth that I got a chance to hang out with or awhile.  

 

 I stayed right off the edge of Old Medina and the lined up shops and everyone trying to make a sale was definitely a little intense.  I also did a lot of walking around the rest of the city as well since negotiating with the taxis (petits/grands) was a pain as they all wanted a pretty serious markup knowing I wasn't even close to a local.

I can honestly say it was HOT in Casablanca, and I can point you to the only tree in the entire city that would provide a little shade.  This did lead me to also spending a decent amount of time at the pool under an umbrella catching up on Ernest Hemmingway novels (I now live close to the house he live in and it feels wrong not knowing his famous stories).