Casablanca

Pot of Casablanca
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5.10.2007 Casablanca, Morocco

Casablanca is located on the Atlantic Ocean, is the largest city in Morocco and located just 90 miles from the country’s administrative capital, Rabat. Because if it’s seaport , Casablanca is the commercial capital of the country and it’s biggest city in population , having grown from 250,000 at the beginning of this century to more than 4,000.000, which represents more than 10% of the country’s population.

Morocco is an agricultural country and the world’s leading export of phosphates. It also has a big fishing industry.

Fish to Market
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The city has a long history having been destroyed by the Portuguese in 1468 and rebuilt by them in1515. Following a severe earthquake in 1755, the city was again rebuilt. In 1907 Casablanca was occupied by the French. Under French administration it grew rapidly and the modern city was built around the old Moorish city. During WWII, Casablanca was one of the three major landing places in the invasion of North Africa by Allied Forces. The city was the site of the Casablanca Conference (January 1943) between Roosevelt and Churchill, at which both leaders pledged that our countries would fight until the Axis powers surrendered unconditionally.

The market
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France withdrew from Casablanca in1956, after Morocco gained its independence, causing real economic hardship. The French influence is strong here and there is much evidence that they did a lot to make this city what it is today with wide boulevards flanked by white, tall buildings and beautiful parks. Of course many know Casablanca from the great Bogart-Ingrid Bergman movie,” Casablanca” but today would discover quite a large and modern city in comparison. By the way, they showed that movie aboard ship last night.

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This morning we took an interesting city tour that included a walk through the old Central Market where we saw a lot of good looking produce, vegetables, fruits, fish, meats and spices. We also were offered many opportunities too buy everything from watches to clothing from street merchants who were overly persistent. Men dressed up in colorful costumes also tried to getus to have your picture taken with them for a dollar tip. We also walked through the Habbous Quarter, the administrative section of the city , where we saw the exterior of the Law Court and the King’s Palace. The King is young, in his 40’s ,with two young children and only one wife. His main Palace is in the Capital City of Rabat but he has 23 other Palaces in cities around the country for him to stay in when he travels.

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One of the most impressive structures we have seen on our trip was another Grand Mosque–the Hassan II Mosque built on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and opened in 1993 at a approx. cost of $1,000,000,000. It is a spectacular house of worship that ingeniously blends traditional Moroccan architecture with the use of ultra sophisticated technology. It has a stunning interior. When the retractable roof is closed , fifty one-ton chandeliers of frosted Venetian glass provide the lighting. Some 30,000 of Morocco’s craftspeople labored for six years to build it. It is the 3^rd largest Mosque in the world (the two biggest are in Mecca) and has the world’s tallest Minaret- almost 700 ft tall with a wide band of beautiful tiles inlaid around its top. The interior will accommodate 25,000 worshipers and another 75,000 on the exterior plaza that surrounds it. Separate buildings house a museum and a library. Regardless of one’s religion you have to be impressed by the 5 basic principles of the Muslim faith and the dedication of their believers. You have also to be impressed with the ingenuity and engineering sophistication it took to build this remarkable building.

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We came backed tired from the tour and decided to have a leisurely lunch in the main dinning room where we could be served. We ended up eating too much and I decided to have a workout and read out on the deck in the sun but fell asleep. Sallie took a nap in the suite.

Tonight we had dinner with the West’s, Mike and Stewart and Mike Moore and June and Tom Cooper and the eight of us were given the Captain’s table since he wasn’t using it.

5.11.2007 At Sea

During the night we passed through some heavy fog and for the first time was awaken by sound of the fog horn but not for long. This morning we attended a most interesting, informative, entertaining but very disturbing lecture. The speaker was John Derbyshire, a novelist and a journalist who is also a Contributing Editor at National Review, the Conservative Magazine started by the leading Conservative, Bill Buckley. Buckley was supposed to have been here but upon arrival a couple weeks ago had to turn around to get home to his wife who died before he made it back. The subject of the lecture was,” Handicapping the Upcoming Presidential Race.” Very methodically, Derbyshire talked about the “big fish” and the “little fish” among the candidates of each party listing their strengths and weaknesses the issues and the candidates’ positions. When he was finished he said that much could change his opinion in the remaining time but, as much as it hurt him to say it, he thought that as things stand right now, he thinks the next U.S. President will be Albert Gore.

City Hall
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We then had lunch with the Moores , lost in bridge to Joanne and Donald but I was today’s bingo winner.