October 2,2025. Casablanca, Morocco.
We enjoyed coffee and pastries on our balcony, then hopped the shuttle to United Nations square and met Ayoub and Salah for a fun (and full) day of touring.
First visit: Hassan II mosque. Beyond impressive.
Ayoub explaining the tile patterns.
I’m going to try to give a sense of scale with these photos.
A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside ground.
The mosque was built in just 6 years…30,000 workers toiled round the clock.
Here I am taking a mirror selfie. Can you spot me?
Timmy wore the wrong color shirt…he blends into the background …I prefer when he wears his aqua touring shirt. Yes, he has two “touring” shirts…don’t ask.
The chandeliers are Murano glass…they are cleaned twice a year…we were so lucky to be able to get close while the cleaning crew from Italy were at work.
After prayers, a teacher will sit in these chairs to answer questions about the Koran…or any other questions a person may have. Over two days… Ayoub asked me more questions than I asked him.
These photos might be my favorites taken in the mosque.
Before praying, Muslims perform ablution …washing their hands, arms, face and feet.
There are 45 marble fountains and 600 taps in the Mosque.
The weather was perfick…low seventies…gentle breeze…no humidity.
After our mosque visit, we drove along the coast.
This was a Christian church…now it’s an event space.
We arrived at Mohammad V square …it’s a lovely public space surrounded by colonial era buildings. Mohammad V was the grandfather of the current king of Morocco.
So these folks wanted to take a photo with us (think Times Square characters…but not pushy)…anyway…
While Ayoub was taking the posed pics…our friend Barbara, who was with her guide, spotted us and took the best pic of the day…
Photo credit to Contessa Barbara ♥️
After the photo op and some interesting history, we began our walking tour of the streets of Casablanca…
After awhile we found ourselves in the Habous Quarter, a charming neighborhood with traditional Moroccan architecture and local markets.
I took this photo for my Goddaughter, Elisa…she owns several McDonald’s restaurants on Long Island.
This building houses a German language school.
I will always be fascinated by markets.
According to Ayoub, the vendors are fine with visitors taking photos…
This vendor saw me and posed♥️
We’d requested lunch in a restaurant with a view of the ocean and great food. Cabestan exceeded that request.
There’s a man in a yellow coat fishing…10 points if you spot him.
Omar offered me a few choices.
This tuna tataki over smoked watermelon…so yummy.
I couldn’t stop taking photos of the view…here you also have the end of my appetizer.
Really delicious bread.
Omar plating my lobster.
That’s Yousef helping…or maybe he just wanted to join the photo.
Yousef serving Timmy his Veal Milanese with egg and truffle and creamy spaghetti.
In addition to our mains….the sides were also delicious.
So the couple next to us struck up a conversation and she insisted I check out the ladies room.
Views, views everywhere …
The fisherman finally caught a fish.
Back on board, we enjoyed Anna and Alexandre in the Cove.
An invitation delivered the night before – a lovely surprise that led to a memorable dinner after our day in Casablanca.
We caught this sunset as we walked into dinner, thats the mosque on the left. Another super day with Timmy…we learned a lot about Casablanca and enjoyed two wonderful meals. Thanks for following along. 🩵
