Casablanca, Morocco

April 16, 2023

Today was our long awaited trip to Marrakech. We didn’t see much of Casablanca, only what we saw through the bus window. The drive to Marrakech was around 3-1/2 hours, so we had a very long day. It was exciting to be in Africa.

Some background information: when you go on a ship sponsored shore excursion, you are asked to gather at a specific time in a specific place on board the ship. As you enter the venue, a colored sticker with a number is put on you to wear. The sticker indicates which bus you’ll be on for the day. Unless you show up with travel companions, the folks you travel may or may not be known to you. It’s basically the luck of the draw. We had bad luck this trip. We toured with the complaining-est group of people ever. We were warned by the shore excursion crew (via a long letter left in our cabin) that Morocco, and specifically Marrakech, would be a strenuous tour and that we all should lower our expectations of what to expect during the tour. Evidently, some people didn’t take that warning to heart.

We began our trip to Marrakech with a short drive through Casablanca. It would already be dark when we came back. These are street scenes from both Casablanca and Marrakech.

This sign uses the three languages of Morocco, Arabic, Berber, and French.

On the road to Marrakech (I had to say it), we saw cell towers disguised as palm trees.

This is how you make use of what you have to keep your car cool:

In Marrakech, our first stop was to see the outside of the Koutoubia Mosque. Built in the 11th century, it’s minaret is one of the tallest in the world. Our Muslim guide, Abdel, certainly knew his stuff. He shared a lot of interesting information with us.

Our tour, so far, was going well. Everyone got back into the bus and we headed to the old center of Marrakech. Now, things began to go downhill. As we parked to get off the bus and begin walking, the man in the seat behind us said “What a shithole!”, referring to the town. That was the start of the negative attitudes and complaining. Also, in most of our our large group tours, guides had used a whisper system. Each member of the group had a receiver and earbuds and can hear the guide’s commentary even at a distance. We did not have these here. I think this was part of the “lower your expectations” section of our letter.

In my experience, when you are exploring a busy, crowded place that was full of narrow streets and quick turns, you might want to keep an eye on your guide so you don’t get lost. We had people wander off on their own to take pictures and then, when they were finally reunited with the group, start yelling at our guide and blaming him for losing them. The happened frequently. Abdel never got upset or lost his cool. This was amazing to me because it was still Ramadan. He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since sunrise and wouldn’t break his fast until sunset. I would have chucked some of these people off the tour!

We wandered through the marketplace. This is not the pretty, clean tourist section. This is where the locals really shop. The winding aisles were hot, crowded and full of the smells you might associate with live animals being butchered. I had to take pictures as I walked. Stopping would get you lost.

We did walk rapidly almost every place we visited. There are numerous pickpockets around, so we really didn’t loiter anywhere to give them an easy target. As we headed to our next stop, I enjoyed the sights.

We were headed to the Bahia Palace. Built between 1894 and 1900, it was the home of the Prime Minister in Marrakech. He was known as the right hand of the King. We saw lavishly decorated rooms, courtyards, reception halls, and even the bathhouse or hammam. I learned so much about Arabic and Muslim art from Abdel. Yes, the palace was crowded and you did have to keep your eye on him.

When our visit here was concluded, we began our walk to the restaurant where we were having lunch. Again, more complaints from people who had wandered off and had to hurry to catch up. I should mention that Abdel was dressed in a blue suit and had on a red fedora, red shoes, and carried a red messenger bag. He did not blend in.

Our lunch was at a beautiful restaurant.

All of the Princess bus tours to Marrakech had lunch here. Our private room was elaborately decorated. We sat at a table for 8 and our fellow diners were on their best behavior for a change. We were entertained by dancers and musicians. The food was wonderful! We had wine made in Morocco on the table and we were served a variety of salads, lemon chicken cooked and served in a tagine (covered clay pot), couscous with vegetables, and a yummy dessert. The food was beautifully spiced and delicious.

Happily full, we began our walk to a large, open square near the souk. This lively place was Djemaa-el-F’na, which means Assembly of the Dead. If there was an explanation as to why the square was named this, I missed it. Besides being full of tourists and locals, there were snake charmers, dancers, people with pet monkeys and spice vendors. I didn’t get any pictures of any of these for various reasons. I was going nowhere near the snakes, photos would cost a few dollars each, and I didn’t want to loose sight of Abdel. This was a huge square. Abdel even had to break up and argument between one member of our group and one of the entertainers. Evidently, our guy didn’t want to pay the entertainer what he felt he deserved.

A few more pictures from our walk:

Our final adventure was a tour of the souk and an adventure it was. If we’d have used the whisper system here, we would have been easily been run over by one of the ubiquitous motorbikes. In Morocco, a person does not have to have a license to drive a motorbike. All you need is a helmet. Now, the souk is a warren of twisting and turning narrow streets lined with shops and crowded shoulder to shoulder with people walking every whichway. Add to that lots of motorbikes, delivery carts and food vendors and a person needs to stay alert. You really need your hearing, and earbuds would have hampered that.

Soon after we entered the souk, a few people decided that didn’t want to continue the “death march”, so Abdel instructed us to wait while he found a safe and cool place for them to stay. When he returned, the rest of us carried on. It was difficult to really look at everything while keeping one eye on our guide. There were so many people in the souk, it was easy for him to get ahead of us. That said, this experience was a feast for the senses. The honking of motorbike horns, cries of the vendors and the scents of the spices are something I’ll always remember.

We picked up the people who hadn’t gone into the souk and were given about 45 minutes to shop. Brian and I were very hot and really didn’t need any more souvenirs, so we went to a restaurant for cool drinks. We were able to use their wifi and nice bathroom. This is the restaurant:

After the shopping time ended, we were ready to head back to Casablanca. Abdel had picked up some food so that he and our driver could break their fast after sundown. It was a quiet drive back, and we could hear Abdel and our driver pray over their meal before they ate and drank.

Back in port, Brian made a point to apologize to Abdel for the behavior of some of our fellow travelers. Abdel said it was part of the job and Brian told him that it still didn’t make it right. He appreciated Brian’s apology.

This was such an interesting day. It was hot, long, and busy, and the territory was unfamiliar. I think to really experience Marrakech, you need to be there more than one day, come with an open mind, and expect things to be different and, maybe, uncomfortable. I don’t think a large tour group is the ideal way to go. However, that’s what we had and we made the most of it. Marrakech will remain etched on my mind.