Casablanca: "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

Casablanca is about four hours drive from Essaouira, and we wanted to stop in El Jadida on the way. 
The camels in the truck in front of us seemed to enjoy the views :-)

After about an hour an a half of driving, one of us noticed that the name Casablanca disappeared from the road signs, which was weird. It turned out that somehow our TomTom has changed the final destination to Marrakech and we missed our turn because of it. Since the roads in Morocco have very little turn around opportunities, it took us about 30 min to get back on track, and we had to take a different road than intended. Instead of the highway we ended up on a provincial road, which, though took us longer to drive, was much more interesting from the scenery point of view (or at least I'd like to think so :-).

We passed some villages on the way, all in the same style - one main street/market full of people, donkeys, stalls, things being bought and sold.

It was just after school time, and children were walking back home along the road. I was wondering how far they have to walk every day to get to school...

The outskirts of El Jadida didn't impress us much and we were hoping that the older part of the town would be more interesting. However, once in the medina, Dima had a change of hart and said that he doesn't feel like walking around. I didn't want to insist and we left the town without actually walking around it.
To be honest, afterwards I regretted a little bit our decision to skip walking around. Too late... :-) 

It took us about an hour to get to Casablanca and to check in. The city, although one of the largest in Morocco, turned out to be not very interesting from the tourist perspective. The only recommendation I could find was to visit the King Hassan II Mosque, which is the largest one in Morocco and the third largest in the world.
As it was later in the evening, we decided to leave the visit to the mosque for next day and to just walk a bit in the city center. The usual old part of town - the medina - was by far not as impressive as the one in Marrakech, so we got bored quickly. Next to it there was a large shopping area with all the modern stores that are usually found in other large cities around the world.

Altogether, we had to admit there was not much to do in Casablanca. Honestly, I expected more from it, but that was mainly due to the film "Casablanca", that I absolutely loved watching some years ago. We saw the "famous Rick's Café Americain" mentioned several times in advertisements and in the hotel brochure,

but since the place wasn't actually the real one or the place from the movie, and according to the most reviews it wasn't really worth visiting, we decided to have dinner in a small lovely fort instead. 

Although pricy, the food was absolutely great and the best we had so far. 

Being in Casablanca, it seemed only logical to end the evening with "Casablanca, The Movie", especially since Dima never seen it before.

watch the movie online

and my favorites:-)

Captain Louis Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

Rick Blaine: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

Captain Louis Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert!

Rick Blaine: I was misinformed.

_____________________________

Maj. Heinrich Strasser: What is your nationality?

Rick Blaine: I'm a drunkard.

Capt. Louis Renault: That makes Rick a citizen of the world...
___________________________________

The next morning we drove along the streets of Casablanca towards the mosque. 

Despite being new build, King Hassan II Mosque is quite a beautiful structure, both inside and out. 

Outside the mosque there is a beautiful view of the promenade and the sea.

Conclusion: Casablanca is an okay city in every aspect, just not a very interesting one. It's a good place to stay overnight when driving from Marrakech up north along the coast, but we wouldn't recommend spending more than a night here. The mosque is worth a visit, could be easily done within an hour. 

Next: Rabat - Chellah ruins and Kasbah

Essaouira: the anchorage of the Moroccan coast

The drive to Essaouira was an easy one and the road was in good condition. To be honest, we didn't expect it to be as good, so it was a welcomed surprise. TomTom was working perfectly as well, allowing us to enjoy the ride instead of arguing on whether or not we were driving in the right direction.

There was very little traffic, and the most common "vehicles" on the road were donkey- or horse-driven carriages along the road.

When passing one of the towns, we saw a crowd cheering some event. It turned out there was some derby going on and separate groups of guys on horses dressed in national clothes were taking turns in pretending to be the cavalry getting ready to attack.

Later on, the sun started to set and the landscape around us became quite dramatic, but still very beautiful.

By the time we got to Essaouira, found the place to park and got to the Riad we were staying overnight (it turned out that the Riad was inside the medina walls, where no cars are allowed), it was almost dark and we, unfortunately missed the sunset, that I was hoping to see.

The medina was similar to the one we saw in Marrakesh, but surrounded by the thick fortress walls and with even more narrow  stone laid alleys that formed elaborately complicated maze. The shops were everywhere - the explosion of color and the diversity of crafts available was quite impressive.

The air was filled with the smells of the sea and the fresh fish being prepared in numerous little cafes and restaurants all over the old city. We were both very hungry, but despite of having those numerous options, it took us a while to find a place, because most of them were empty for no obvious reasons. In the end, the restaurant we managed to choose had no fish on the menu and we had to settle for the choice of tajines. This time it was the other way around, as Dima liked it, but me - not so much.

The next day we started by going to the fish market. Along the sea the locals were already fully busy with day-to-day things.

Even before the market place, the fisherman who already returned with their morning catch were cleaning up the fish just there on the walls. 

The seagulls were trying to  steal the fish or the bits of it and it was really funny to see this one toying with the catch. 

The town's not very sizable harbor starts just outside the fortress walls.

At the market we saw some really weird looking fish.

After the market we walked back to the old town. 

The walk on top of the city walls was very nice, and offered some great views of the town and of the sea.

Essaouira is great place to just wonder around the streets and it really feels like you traveled back to the middle ages.
Before leaving for Casablanca, we made one final stroll in the old town.

When putting together the itinerary, I had some doubts whether or not to stop in Essaouira, and I was glad we did. It's a really great fortress town and absolutely worth stopping at.

Next: Casablanca - "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"