Morocco

Tangier coastline 

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I am going to combine our stops in Morocco into one post. Morocco is a very interesting and diverse country.

Morocco is located in the northwest corner of Africa. It’s a country that boasts a diverse range of landscapes, including deserts, mountains, forests, and coastlines. The population continues to grow significantly every year, and there are lots to do and see, meaning there are some interesting facts about Morocco to learn.

• Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as an independent nation in 1777.
• Morocco has more cell phones than people. There are 44 million cell phones and only 35 million people.  They are quite tech savvy.
• Morocco has two national languages:  Standard Arabic and French. Most Moroccans know at least three or more languages.
• Morocco grows an abundance of citrus fruits, like mandarins and clementines. Some are sold at local markets, but most are sent elsewhere. Around 112,000 tons of dates are exported every year as well. 
• They are also the only exporter of Argan Oil, made from a tree endemic to Morocco. Agriculture makes up a huge percentage of the economy here.  
• Morocco is home to the highest ski resort in Africa.
• Two-thirds of the world’s phosphates are in Morocco.
• Morocco has the second longest monarchy in history, just behind England.  It is a constitutional monarchy with a 300+ member Congress.
• The film Casablanca was not filmed in Casablanca. It was filmed in Hollywood on a soundstage.

OK, that’s the fun stuff now. I will describe what we did while we were here. After my last post which detailed our circling the port of Agadir, we finally docked around 1 AM. The reason why we went here is so that people who were going on the overland trip to Marrakesh could get off. We did go on an excursion and if I had to choose a port to drop, this would be one of them. 

We took the included tour that could easily have been handled by having a panoramic bus tour. However, we wound up walking through the streets of Agadir, walking through the botanical gardens and then went to some stores for shopping products that contain Argan oil.  We then ventured to the Atlas mountains and rode a cable car that took us up to the Kasbah or Citadel if you like. It offered great vistas as well as camel rides. 

Agadir 

The Kasbah

Today we were on an eight hour tour of Casablanca and Rabat, the Imperial City.  Today was a rainy day and we went on foot to visit sites in the pouring rain.  After walking half a mile just to get to the bus, we were very fortunate in that we got a very good guide. It took about an hour and a half to go to Rabat on the Expressway. Our first stop was to see the Imperial Palace where are all the country’s business is conducted.  The king does not live here. 

The Imperial Palace

We went to a rather beautiful mausoleum that houses the tombs of many past rulers. It sat across from what was going to be the largest mosque in the world, but when the king who was building it died, the project died as well. They did manage to finish the minaret, and many years later, they actually built another mosque close to it that had matching brick tiles as the original. There are a lot of mosques in Morocco. According to our guide, they exceeded 12,500.  Rabat is very clean and with lots of trees.

Mausoleum

Minaret

Unfinished mosque 

Mausoleum guard

Part of the unfinished mosque

Our next stop was the Kasbah.  I elected to stay on the bus as my right leg was giving me a lot of problems. Michael said it was absolutely stunning inside.  The Kasbah, otherwise known as a citadel or a fort, is still home to many people, and the architecture inside was stunning. We walked past a number of homes, little shops, outdoor vendors, and then finally it all opened up with a very picturesque view of the river.  We kept going and had a very untimely snack break. Untimely because lunch was going to follow immediately after the snack. They provided mint tea, which was very good, and various kinds of cookies. Following the snack break we walked through some beautiful gardens and then it was time for lunch. 

We ate lunch in the old city called the Medina. We walked down narrow alleyways to arrive at the restaurant. If you did not know a restaurant was there, you would’ve walked right by it.  We were served a typical Moroccan meal in a restaurant that was in a building that was over 200 years old.  The first course consisted of bread and several different salads, potato salad, rice, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and a salsa type dish. After that, they brought chicken out in clay pots.  They use a lot of saffron in Moroccan cooking.  The food was served family style. The final course was fresh fruit, dates and almond cookies. It was a very nice authentic Moroccan meal.  No alcohol was served. 

We then went for the hour and a half ride back to Casablanca where we stopped to look at another mosque. This mosque is the second largest one in Africa and can hold over 25,000 people.  Our final stop was to the Sook for some shopping. Here again I stayed on the bus because there’s nothing I want to buy. Michael did go and he came back empty-handed.

It wouldn’t be Casablanca if there was no Rick‘s Café. As you know, Rick Café was fictional however, an American Kathy Kriger, who loved the movie and lived here in Casablanca created Rick Café and decorated it just like in the movie. She died in 2018.  Next time!

All in all, it was a very exhausting day, but we did learn a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We came back to our cabin and crashed. Michael has the cold that I had a couple of weeks ago and feels like crap.  We listened to the port talk for Tangiers and decided that we would skip the excursion there because it was mostly walking around visiting a museum and going to a vegetable market and more shopping. We do not buy souvenirs anymore!