Casablanca Private Guides Morning Tour-Morocco
Trip Start
Unknown
1
Trip End
Ongoing
Casablanca, Morocco
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
according to our professional and Personal Private tour guide in Casablanca and Tangier-Morocco, Casablanca is Well known because of the Humphrey Bogart film of the same name!
About OUR Personalized, Private, Leisurely & Flexible Tour/Transfer Services in Casablanca and Tangier-Morocco
Just returned from a 12 night Cruise on the Millenium which featured a stop in Casablanca. We had a private guide (for 8 people) arranged by one of our Cruise Critic people. Visiting the city that lent its name to the famous film. Casablanca, the largest City in Morocco, is a city full of interesting sights. Our guide was Jamal and he was AMAZING! I were a little leery about Morocco but LOVED our experience, especially the Camel ride in Tangier! Jamal can tailor the tour to your wants. His email:
jamaltour1@gmail.com
email Jamal with any questions. Medina literally means "city", now used for the original Arab part of any Moroccan town. And a souk is a market or bazaar. Also Kasbah (as in "Come with me to the Kasbah") simply means the fortified part of the city. Have a GREAT Cruise!
Susan M.Aries- San Francisco -
Our Private guide Said:
Casablanca is Morocco's largest and most modern city. Before the French began to develop it as the country's economic capital in 1912, Casa-as Casablanca is commonly called-was only a small trading post. Its subsequent rapid growth has wiped away most of its romantic image-it's bound to disappoint most visitors. Now basically a big commercial and industrial city, it is home to most of Morocco's major corporations and banks. However, its traditional markets pale in comparison with those of Fez or Marrakesh. If you're into nightlife, you'll want to stay a night or two; Casablanca is reputed to have the best homegrown club scene in the country. Otherwise, you'll probably be content to see the city in one day. On the other hand, it is the country's main transportation hub, so you may find yourself spending more time there.
Although Casablanca has a medina and boasts several landmark 1920s and 1930s buildings with art-nouveau, art-deco and traditional Moroccan accents (concentrated around Place des Nations Unies and Place Mohammed V), the most impressive sight by far is the Hassan II Mosque.
It was completed in 1993 and is one of the largest mosques in the world. It is also one of only a few mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims can visit-we highly recommend it. Guided tours allow you to see the wonderful craftsmanship and furnishings: beautiful mosaic tile work, sculpted plasterwork, marble-clad walls and arches, thick carpets, and enormous Venetian glass chandeliers. The wooden ceiling above the immense prayer hall is painted in dazzling patterns and, even more impressive, it can retract to open the mosque to the sky. In the basement are an ablution room and a large hammam (bathhouse). The plaza out front, which is dominated by a very tall minaret, Can accommodate thousands more for religious events.
If you're interested in the history and culture of Jews in Morocco, take time to visit the Musee du Judaisme Marocain. Its exhibits document the religious and artistic traditions of local Jewish communities. The museum is in the oasis quarter, east of the city center.
The beach suburb of Ain Diab is a good place to stroll along the corniche (oceanside promenade), especially at night. It has plenty of seafood restaurants and nightclubs.
Just a few miles/kilometers north of Casablanca are some beach resorts, such as Mohammedia, where there's a golf course popular with Europeans. The only good hotel, however, had its beach spoiled by the nearby petroleum plant. All in all, we feel that there are better resorts elsewhere in the country. Casablanca is 60 mi/100 km southwest of Rabat.
Tangier
For decades, between 1920 and the late 1950's, Tangier was a playground for adventure seekers and the rich and famous, attracting all those seeking a tax haven or a mystic destination, from authors to artists and spies to aristocrats. Regular visitors included the likes of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. When Spain relinquished Tangier back to Morocco in 1960 its duty-free status went with it, and the city lost a great deal of its flair. Tourism is slowly increasing once more, though; visitors succumbing to the city's proximity to Europe are discovering that its decayed grandeur still has much to offer, from its palm-treed promenade and sandy beach to the old town section, and the outlying villages and resorts. Seasoned Moroccan visitors, however, warn that it is best not to take on Tangier until you are acclimatised to the rest of the country, a stylish café society has once again begun to build up in modern day Tangier's boulevards, and the merchants in the medina (old city and authentic Berber Souks/Markets) are doing good trade with tourists exploring the maze of narrow streets, all within sight of the Spanish coast across the straits of Gibraltar. An essential part of a visit to Tangier is to promenade along the beach, which extends along a curve for several kilometres. Jamal Jamali, National Tour Guide-Morocco
Email:
jamaltour1@gmail.com
