From a young age, I always loved Humphrey Bogart films and 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 and Ingrid Bergman. It is one of my favourite films and 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 and settled by Berbers around the seventh century BC. It was used as a port by the Phoenicians and later by the Romans.
Some of the world's largest cruise liners stop off at Casablanca, which 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 and relatively modern. After visiting Tangier the previous day, I found Casablanca dirty and utterly unimpressive. Even the King Hussein II Mosque, although significant, was not comparable to earlier Mosques I have visited.
The market area was unclean and unlike Tangier, did not feel very safe. I am glad I visited Casablanca and have crossed it off my bucket list, but I would advise people wanting to visit Casablanca to go instead to Tangier.