Casablanca! The very name of the city conjures romantic images of a time gone by. Though much of Morocco offers stunning scenery however, Casablanca is decidedly metropolitan. The port is littered with shipping containers and dozens of cranes while the city itself is mostly sprawling development.
The city's newest claim to fame is the impressive Hassan II mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world. It was completed in the 90s but has the same traditional designs of centuries past. This huge mosque has nearly every surface covered by detailed mosaics, carved Lebanese pine, and inlaid marble floors. It is a stunning building and one of the few mosques in Morocco open to visitors.
After visiting the mosque, we took a tour of the city with a brief visit to the local market which was unfortunately mostly empty due to our timing (Fridays are holy days). This evening we went to the famous Rick's Cafe. Famous, due to the movie of Casablanca, though no actual 'Rick's Cafe' existed until an expat decided to build one, designed with all the details from the film included, in the 1990s. Though I generally prefer 'authentic' travel experiences, this was probably the highlight of our trip. It was truly an authentic representation of the movie set with attention to every detail- lamps, the piano, and the ambiance inside. We had the most lovely evening listening to Jazz classics and feasting on a 4 course dinner, complete with cocktails and wine. It was like stepping into another world.
