Casablanca - Play it again Sam

It is hard to imagine that a couple of days ago we were in Reims trying to plan the next leg of the trip. Berlin or Barcelona? I never imagined that we would end up in Morocco. Walking from the Port into Casablanca we were hounded by more taxi drivers than I have seen in one spot, all touting for business. We commented that it was like being in Vietnam. There was a different feel though - these guys were quite aggressive and did not want to take no for an answer. Walking in the street, with the kids, we felt a bit vulnerable and sought refuge in the Hyatt, which had a full security screening process, as we walked it. I went to take my bag off to put it through the xray machine, and we were ushered past security (obviously standing out as tourists). The hotel was spectacular and we bought some drinks while planning our next move.

Rick's Cafe is famous in connection with the movie Casablanca and we decided to walk there for lunch. Casablanca was playing on a large plasma screen.

I had to take a photo of Sam sitting at the piano!

Lunch was among the most delicious food we have eaten on the trip and the restaurant's architecture and decor were fabulously Morrocan.

(I had eaten most of my lunch by the time I took the photo).

After lunch we walked to the Mosque.

We then caught a 'petit taxi' to the Morocco Mall; despite having many transport options on getting off the boat suddenly no one wanted to take us - petit taxi's are only licensed to carry three passengers. We finally found a very nice driver who was willing to take us to the mall and wait for us until we finished shopping (he didn't rip us off either). Turning up at a mall on the first day of a big sale was not a good idea - Mayhem - the Boxing Day sales at Myer in the City on steriods. We had no option but to brave the crowds as we literally had nothing to wear on the cruise. The boys were wearing snow boots (their only shoes left) and Frank's jeans were falling apart at the seams. We found our way to an entrance to the store and were told to go around to another entrance as this entrance was now an exit. We were on a time schedule to get back to the ship so I said, 'Wakarimasen. Parlez Japonais'. We were quickly ushered in and pointed toward an information desk. Our hour long shopping journey was crazy but it did result in the boys having new shoes and Frank finally being able to throw his old jeans away. I had wanted to find a dress or something for dinner but was near on suffering claustrophobia from the crowds. Back on board the ship we met a lady and her two sons who had taken an excursion to Marrakesh (this was something I really wanted to do but the 3 hour bus ride each way put us off). Apparently Marrakesh was exciting and lively with snake charmers, colouful souks etc. but very touristy and she was consciously watching her bag all the time...