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A bit of Background of why I’m writing this blog post now
Isn’t that weird, blogging about travel that happens years in the past? I often ask myself that especially in this year 2020 where I can’t go anywhere, and the only thing I do in my spare time is writing my past travel. When I travel, I don’t bring laptop. It is for safety and practical reason, as well as the fact that I’m usually beaten up by the time I hit hotel/hostel/Airbnb. And for those reasons, I don’t bring laptop when I travel.
So, why didn’t i immediately write that up as soon as I got home from travel? The answer to that question would be that I was always busy planning my next trip. Did you know? Planning a trip is my energy-booster and the most exciting thing to do? So, that is why I had never written my blogpost soon enough, until 2020 came.
With the COVID-19 looming in the year of 2020 and all country’s border raced to be closed, my “travel time” was frozen immediately. Up to today, I have written 47 posts in the past 8 months for my past travel in 11 countries. And now it’s time for me to write about Morocco, which the actual trip took place in 2016.
I realize that travel industry had been growing so fast in past four year (at least until Covid-19 hit). With the help of travel influencer and the social media, travel industry all around the world grew significantly. And therefore, tourists facilities (hotel, means of transportation, attractions) also developed. This make what I’m about to write about travel that took place four years ago (all the details and places), may not be valid anymore. However, i’m trying my best to cross-check with the facts on the internet about the tour operators, etc so it will still valid with present condition. After all, my all posts need to be validated as years go by.
Why Morocco? 🤷🏻♀️
So, here we are at Casablanca, Morocco. Me and my two of my friends went to Morocco on March 2016. We booked the ticket almost a year in advance (in 2015) and had been planning the trip forever. However, we only got 7 days to explore Morocco.
We chose Morocco because we were drawn by the blue Chefchaouen and the idea of having dessert camp. Those were the main reason I was so excited to go to Morocco. On this trip, we planned to visit Casablanca, Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fes, Desert Camp at Erg Chegaga, and Marrakesh. This blog will focus on Casablanca, however short it was 😉
Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco and has population of 3.7 million. Morocco gained independence from France in 1956. Approximately 28,000 Moroccan Jews immigrated to the State of Israel between 1948 and 1951, many through Casablanca.
From Casablanca Mohamed V International Airport to Casablanca City Center
There are few options to go to city center from Casablanca International Aiport:
Train
There is regular train services from the airport to Casablanca city center Casa Port (Train terminal in the city). It cost 50 Moroccan Dirham (MAD) (80,000 IDR/5.4 USD), which you can purchase online on ONCF website, on the ticket machine at train station in the airport, or in the ticket counter. I found this useful video on how to find the airport train station from the arrival hall Terminal 1.
The journey from Airport train station to city center takes up 45 minutes. If you wish to go city center, the final destination is casa port. However, if you’re trying to go to Tangier or Marrakech, you can stop at Casa Voyageur and connect to another train for those destinations. It is important to note that it is often a delay on the train, so please spare hours in advance if you take trains to the airport.
Taxi
It takes 40 minutes (depends on the traffic) to get to city center from the airport by taxi. The cost is around 250 MAD (400,000 IDR/ 27 USD). There are two types of taxi depends on the type of the car. The grand and petit Taxi. Grand taxis use Mercedes benz while petit is the regular sedan. However, both of them require negotiation of the price. Official and authorized prices at Casablanca Airport are shown in a panel located at Terminal 1 and they are agreed by the local council.
I personally don’t recommend using taxi unless you travel in group and carrying many luggages. My Experience with Taxi was the driver lied to us point blank that they had meter, while in fact, it was radio on the dashboard.
Bus
CTM bus has regular schedule to city center and it’s avaible outside Terminal 1. They stop on Californie suburb, Boulevard Abdelmoumen, Boulevard Hassan II, Place de Bandoeng, CTM bus terminal (located behind Sheraton Hotel). Visitors can purchase the ticket directly to the bus driver. (source: Casablanca-airport)
The walk in Casablanca
Though we wanted to get lost in Casablanca Medina, we had list things to do, starts from booking sleeper train to Tangier for that night, and checking in our hotel. As a result, we only made it to Hassan II mosque, right before the sunset.
Hassan II Mosque has 210 m-height minaret and looks stunning from the outside. This mosque is the 7th largest mosque in the world. It can hold up to 150,000 prayers both inside and outside the mosque. The construction of this mosque was controversial, as it costs about 585 million euro. All materials were from Morocco, especially some granites and chandelier that were from Italy. Six hundreds artisan worked for five years to create the mosaic, carved and wood ceilings as well as the plasters. The construction started at 1986 and finished at 1993. (source: wikipedia)
For non-muslim visitors, the mosque can only be entered via guided tour which lasts 45 minutes. Visitor also must dressed properly with knees and upper arms covered. Mosque open for visitors from 9 am to 6 pm, and the cost of guided tour is 12 EUR. We did not enter since it was already closed, so we explore the mosque only from the outside, and it was indeed beautiful.
After going to Hassan II Mosque, we grabbed our things at Hotel, where i broke my glasses 😔😪. Yes, it was only first day and i already broke my eyeglasses, especially on the right side. This ruins the whole trip since i am nearsighted and i had to narrowed my eyes the whole trip 🤦🏼♀️. However, i learned my lesson and ever since that incident, i always bring backup eyeglasses whenever i travel. What an inspiring day one 😁.
