Day 7 17th April 2026. casablanca

 Woke to another glorious morning.

Mornings in Marrakesh at the moment are pleasantly cool ( and very quiet) with the heat building through the day.

A fairly early start for our adventure today.

A walk through the deserted souks toward what we now know as a taxi rank of sorts.

Negotiated a trip to Gare Marrakesh, otherwise know as the main train station, a reasonable distance away so worth every cent of the 50MAD that we paid. About 5€.


A quiet coffee whilst we wait for Philippa and also our high speed train that will be taking us to Casablanca for the day.

Its about a two and half hour trip and i am sure the countryside is beautiful outside but I only have a grimy old window, so i cant see much.

Time passed pretty quickly and we soon found ourselves in a big noisy city. 

Cab ride to get us away from the station and all the touts and we thought first stop to the ancient Medina and old market place, hopefully to find a bite to eat. 

Expecting all the noise and chaos like the Marrakesh souks, we were so surprised by how quiet it was, a completely different vibe.


Nothing to see or eat here so we thought we would head to the waterfront and wander along.

Still hungry and we stumbled across this very discreet Seafood restaurant. It is a port city i guess.

Very spainish influence, not Morrocan but the seafood looked and smelled beautifully fresh.

We had quite the feast of salad, sardines and the most delicious paella that we all shared.


Feeling much happier now, off we trot along the waterfront.

As we turn the corner to the waterfront we are hit by a blast of cold air, it’s like walking in a cold cloud wafting across obscuring much of the view. Very strange 


We pass a small mosque as prayers are taking place, hundreds of men spilling out on the footpaths, in their cars and scooters. As a woman, not sure of protocol, so just bowed our heads and walked quickly through the crowd.


We come across Ricks Cafe and of course most have at least heard of the movie Casablanca, that highlights this cafe.

Although, i don’t believe anything was filmed here. All filmed in Hollywood, but one has to visit.

No opportunity to eat here either as bookings need to be made months ago.

Satisfied ourselves with a photo from outside before continuing on our wanderings.


This cloud like fog is all encompassing and as we walk towards the El Hassan mosque it all but disappears , which is quite a feat for the 3rd largest mosque in the world.

The mosque is situated beach front and we watch some really nasty surf coming in. No swimming thanks… as get closer to the mosque, there are many hundreds, if not thousands of worshiper leaving. We find our way to the start of our tour.

 It really is an impressive and beautiful place: we’ll let the pictures do the talking. 


We were lucky to visit as it’s the only mosque that i know of that allows non muslims inside for a tour, especially women.


Back out into the madness for a taxi trip back to Gare Casablanca for trip home.


Again time passed quickly and we arrived back home to our Riad about 9.30.

Another big day but great to get to Casablanca even for such a short time.
























65m high and this roof can open!!!







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