Bradley Vacation Blog: May 5 Casablanca

May 5 Casablanca

We leave the Mediterranean, not to return on this voyage. Our first stop is the exotic Casablanca in Morocco. We were here last summer and took the interesting excursion, so we chose to just explore on our own. Our favorite Destinations Manager, Luke, assured us it was safe so we took the shuttle bus into town.

At the shuttle bus stop both bus exits were mobbed by taxi drivers offering their services. It was nearly impossible to leave the bus for the crush of taxi drivers. A few stayed 10 meters from the bus and attempted to engage you in conversation as you emerged from the scrum. One guy said he was "with the shuttle bus company" but we quickly dispatched him.

Here's the bus at the stop. The bus is now empty but a gaggle of drivers is still there.

We headed for the Medina, a large souk. Here's the clock tower outside.

And here's the gate. Strangely, at 9:45 on a weekday, only 1 in 20 shops were open.

We walked through quickly and came upon the fort guarding the port.

In the distance was the famous Hassan II Mosque. We didn't walk that far, but did go into a modern mall just past the fort. The stores there were open, we bought a few things, and returned to the shuttle bus. Only a couple of drivers attempted to become our friends while we waited for the shuttle.

May 7 Lanzarote

After the fun of Casablanca we stayed aboard the ship during the next port stop at Agadir, Morocco. The shuttle was to a beach resort surrounded by other beach resorts so it seemed like a good day to stay aboard.

Arrecife is a city on the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. Exiting the ship we waited 45 minutes for shuttle bus that took us less than a mile in 5 minutes to the edge of the port. Had we known, we would have just walked.

Here's the tidal lagoon on the edge of town.