The romantic notion of docking in an African port was kind of taken away by opening our cabin curtains this morning to a haze filled sky (Monika says smog) and an eye fill of worse for wear shipping containers !
Cassablanca is a large and important port and a huge city of over 4 million people and for us signifies our first time in Africa !
We avoided the disembarkation rush by once again taking a class with our Cuban stretching torturer. I have to say it was pleasing to have others in the class this time sounding like they were dieing instead of me !
Following the gym and with time to kill, I took advantage of the less than crowded ship (most passengers had shot through on planned excursions some travelling 3 hours one way to Marrakech !) by jumping into a pool deck spa before realising that i was wasting valuable "smoothie" drinking time and headed back to the bar !
We'd decided that we couldn't miss out on at least setting foot ashore so took one of the MSC organised bus shuttles just after midday to the amazing Hussan 2 Mosque. This was HUGE ! The Mosque and surrounding area can accommodate up to 100, 000 people and has the highest minaret in the world at over 200 metres (important info for all those interested in minarets!)
Walking around the area gave a great feel for perspective and an interesting insight into local life with many locals hanging around a rubbish an debris filled ocean front !l
Our 2nd stop took us along the beach front to a local shopping mall. Most interesting here was not the mall (although it did have high level security checks for those entering) but the ocean side that showed hundreds swimming and surfing highlighting the fact that Morocco has a moderate muslim society (mainly !)
Not getting off at the mall we journeyed back on the bus to the central part of town past Ricks Bar (a take on the movie Cassablanca) to Cassablancas main bazaar a labrynith of small alleyways with vendors competing with each other to sell mainly touristy stuff like knock off designer bags, sunglasses, belts and other clothing !
Appart from this there didnt seem to be much else to do so we headed back to our ship for a late lunch .
The evening passed with Monika enjoying an excellent (she reckoned) on board opera show while I worked away in the gym.
The cocktail and dinner hours soon followed while the ship waited in port for the last passengers to arrive back from Maraakech - the last ones to boarding the ship late at 10.30p.m. to the bronx cheers of on board passengers !
Tomorrow is another day at sea while we make our way to the scenic Islands of Teneriffe and Madiera !
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