Morocco

Casablanca, Morocco. 5–6 October 2026.

A short stop after Mauritania. I stayed one night at the new Radisson in Gauthier, La Citadelle, about 110 dollars. Breakfast in the hotel, then I walked the city myself.

The sight is the Hassan II Mosque, built out over the Atlantic. The ticket with the guided tour was 150 dirhams. Non-Muslims only go in with the group. Inside you can take photos, no flash. The hall is the real thing: cedar, tile, a glass floor, a scale nothing else in the city matches. The outside platform over the sea is free if you only want the postcard.

Around it, Casablanca is a business city. An old medina, more a labyrinth than a monument. An Art Deco museum, the Villa des Arts, closed on Monday. A lot of older white buildings, the French layer, cracked in places and still standing. Boulevard d’Anfa is not a luxury street. The polished rooms are the hotel, a specialty coffee, and the mall on the corniche. The sidewalk is ordinary: cars being fixed in the street, people looking, almost nobody selling you anything.

One day was enough. About 20,000 steps and I had seen the mosque, the square, the medina, and the pace of the place. After Nouakchott it felt organized, and also less unique. Nice people, a working city, no urge to stay. The flight out was after midnight.