Here’s looking at you kid…..

Good afternoon every one from exotic Casablanca, Morocco. As many of you knew, I had been planning this trip over this past year and now it’s a reality. 

I arrived here last night after long trek from home. Other than being very tiresome, there were no real issues other than a couple hours delay in Paris. Luckily that was my last leg with no connections to catch so it wasn’t a big deal. By the time I finally got here and checked into my hotel, I was dead tired tho. I was also starving by that point so I wandered a couple blocks over where I found a nice little street side restaurant where I enjoyed some local food. After that, I crashed hard. 

 Today was my only full day in Casablanca as I leave on my tour tomorrow so I made the most of it. I booked a private tour for the first half the of the day which was wonderful. My driver Ahmed took me to the spots I wanted to see and a few he thought I should see. He was extremely knowledgable about the area and offered a lot of information as we travelled around. The first stop was Casablancas most famous landmark, the Hassan II mosque. Building began in 1986 with its completion in 1996. Its foundation stone was laid by King Hassan II himself. It was built right on the ocean with the inspiration coming from the Quaranic verse “His thrown was upon the water.” The architecture is just beautiful, only to be made better by the location to the water. I wandered around here for a while, snapping pics and taking in the surroundings before jumping back in the van and heading off to my next desired spot, Ricks Cafe! 

 Ricks Cafe was made famous by the movie Casablanca. The famous line being “of all the Gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” This of course being said by Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman. This location was designed to recreate the set of the bar made famous by the movie. It is only open on occasion and by reservation only, however its exterior has become a Mecca for tourists in this area. 

From there we drove along the coast line, in an area known as the Corniche. This area was absolutely beautiful. It was just miles of beaches, strong Atlantic surf and stunning views of the lighthouses, mosques and everything in between. Although the landscape differs, it had the same salt water smell as Newfoundland. 

 From there, it was a few small stops in town squares and such and then a nice lunch. I had fully intended to write down the name of the restaurant so I can mention it here but I didn’t and now I forget! However I did order a tangine chicken and vegetable dish which was fantastic. The word tangine refers to a Moroccan dish slow cooked with spices, herbs, aromatics, olives and lemons.You can get chicken, fish and beef cooked this way. 

After lunch, Ahmed dropped me off at my hotel. I posted a bunch of pics from today thus far on Facebook. I only post a few key pics on these blogs so if you’d like to see my pics, check them out on Facebook. After that, I went for a little walk over to the old Medina and wandered aimlessly for a bit. Then it was back to my room where I can get this blog started. I will be getting ready to meet my Intrepid Tour group here in an hour so I will pick this up again later. 

 I’m back! Its a few hours later and the day has ended. The group all met in the lobby at 6. It’s a fairly large group this time, 16 of us in total plus our group leader who seems like a very nice guy so far. We did introductions and then went over the plans for the upcoming week. Afterwards we went for a nice late dinner where we regaled each other with tales of past travel and bonded over the adventures that lay ahead. I think I lucked out this time as they all seem very nice and easy going. There is also a nice mix of ages which is always nice. 

 Its now almost 10 and tomorrow is an early start. I still have to repack my backpacks and post this blog. Tomorrow we board the high speed train and head up to Tangier. I am very much looking forward to this town. Hopefully the weather stays clear and we can see across the straight of Gibraltar. Fingers crossed! 

Thanks for checking in and hopefully I can post again in a day or so. Wifi may not be great in some areas so if I don’t post right away, thats why! Cheers and good night!