Casablanca Covered in a Day

With a full day to put in before meeting our group, I researched what to do in Casablanca. I came up with surprisingly little.

Top of the list was the iconic Hassan II Mosque, the city's most prominent landmark and attraction. You can stroll around the exterior of the building and courtyard at your convenience.

It's nestled snuggly against the sea walk on the Atlantic Ocean where crashing waves splash above the berm.

The King Hassan mosque is the largest in Morocco and the minaret is the tallest in the world at 210 metres.

The exterior is adorned with zellige (geometric mosaic tilework) and blue granite.

The mosque was commissioned by its namesake and aimed to be inaugurated for King Hassan's 60th birthday, but faced construction delays. It was completed in 1993 and took seven years to build. There is a traditional arts museum and a number of ornate fountains on the mall in front of the mosque.

If you want to see inside, guided tours are offered four times a day in multiple languages for a fee of 120 dirham (~$17 CDN).

Following a big herd of English speakers, we entered the main prayer hall. Inside the mosque can accommodate 25,000 worshippers with additional space for 80,000 outside.

All the materials are locally sourced. The wood is cedar from the Middle Atlas, the marble from Agadir and the granite from Tafraoute. The paints are made from natural, local materials as well like saffron and henna. Our guide explained the mosque was relatively inexpensive to build (at just under USD$700 million) because the government owns the resources, leaving us with the impression the materials were not really purchased. The exceptions are the glass chandeliers which are Murano glass from Italy.

The doors are made from titanium in order to resist the wear from the salt and water of the Atlantic waves. And the mosque is earthquake resistant as well with spacing between key columns that enable the building to safely shift.

Below the prayer hall are the men's and women's ablution halls full of fountain for the ritual washing before prayer.

After our tour of the mosque, we set out to find our way to the central tourist area to check out some parks and cafes. Walking along the sea wall, we made a stop at Sqala, just outside the Medina, for lunch and tea.

Sqala was a fortified bastion and port stop for traders, merchants and pirates in the 18th century. It now houses a garden restaurant with delicious food!

From our lovely break at Sqala, we took a quick shortcut through the Medina - not getting lost - and popped out by the clock tower and main intersection.

We took a stroll over to Mohammad V Square to watch people feed the flocks of pigeons. It has become known as pigeon fountain square as vendors sell food for the birds despite the hilariously ignored no feeding the pigeons signs.

After a coffee break it was back to the hotel in time to meet our group.

All in all, Casablanca didn't hold much to engage or entertain for a tourist. It is, after all, the main working city in Morocco with manufacturing, finance and import/exports being major employers.

I'm excited to hit the road tomorrow.