From a young age, I always loved Humphrey Bogart films & being somewhat of a romantic, I know I hide it well; I always wanted to visit Casablanca in Morocco.
Casablanca.
My first interest in Casablanca was from the film of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman. It is one of my favourite films & as I got older, I realised that although it would be nothing like the film, I would still like to visit Casablanca.
Casablanca, known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda, is the largest city in Morocco. It is located on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia Plain in the central-western part of Morocco. Casablanca is Morocco's chief port, with the port of Casablanca being one of the largest artificial ports in the world. The area, which is today Casablanca, was founded & settled by Berbers around the seventh century BC. It was used as a port by the Phoenicians & later by the Romans.
Some of the world's largest cruise liners stop off at Casablanca & this is how I arrived for my visit. I have to say that the idea of Casablanca in my mind in no way matched the reality of my visit. Casablanca is a large port City & fairly modern. After visiting Tangier the previous day, I found Casablanca dirty & was completely unimpressed with it. Even the King Hussein II Mosque, although large, was not comparable to previous Mosques I have visited.
The market area was unclean & unlike Tangier, did not feel very safe. I am glad I visited Casablanca & have crossed it off my bucket list, but I would advise people wanting to visit Casablanca to go instead to Tangier.
Casablanca photos.
These photos were all taken when I took an excursion around Casablanca in Morocco. I was there for one day whilst onboard MSC Lirica.
