Casablanca – Not The Romantic City of the Movies

We are in Casablanca. I know what images used to appear in my head when I thought about Casablanca. I laugh at those now.

Oh, and did I mention we are going home?

Yes, we are done.

Turns out Casablanca is our last stop and we fly from here.

Long Haul – 8 hours Casablanca to Dubai, 9 hour layover then 18 hours home including a quick landing in Melbourne, Australia.

So, why not enjoy Casablanca for a day before we go.

The birds are pretty cool:

Actually, they were more interesting if you approached that fenced area in the center:

The mosque is amazing:

The shopping mall is so modern it is surreal.  You can easily forget you are in Africa, forget your are in a Muslim country and even forget you have left home (although in our case the Casablanca mall was bigger and brighter than the malls in New Zealand).

What annoyed us most about Casablanca was the filth and the cab drivers we encountered.  As with all the big cities, the Petite Taxis take only three persons so we need to get two taxis.  The hotel called for us and negotiated that we would pay the meter price plus 15 dirhams to stop at the Mosque.

From the mosque we could see the mall.  A straight line along the coast.

We knew something was up when the two taxis, while driving, pulled next to each other and the drivers had a chat in Arabic.  Then we turned off the main road.  We saw this:

Eeeww, the cows and the rubbish was a bit much for our last day.

Finally we got to the mall, the meter read 50 dh and I produced that but our driver said no, it’s 120 durham.  I don’t think so.  Just then hubby sticks his head in our window to say his meter says the same, 50dh and his driver also wants 120dh.

We have been here long enough to be really tired of the unofficial “tourist tax” added to things, so while hubby and the drivers were discussing this, I simply said,

“There’s a policeman over there, I am going to ask him.”

As expected, the policeman told us we only have to pay the meter price.

The driver was angrily shouting after us, “Don’t call green taxi again“  As if we would.

FYI, this didn’t turn our view, I still love Morocco and will miss it.

Honestly, I am sad to be going home.

All photos ©Rhonda Albom 2012

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• Lonely Planet Guide to Morocco
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