Bottom line, we blew it.

If Casablanca is on your list of places to visit, maybe scratch it off.

While we had no control over where our ship docked, we did have some options for day-trips from Casablanca. The city of Marrakesh was one of the available destinations, but after noting it was a 12-hour tour – 6 of which would be spent on the 320 mile roundtrip bus ride – we opted out.

Big mistake.

First, instead of getting a first-hand view of the Moroccan countryside, all the way to the great Sahara Desert, we got this lovely view of the port.

There must not be too many cruise ships coming here, so we were docked smack-dab in the middle of the highly-active commercial port. At first, watching cranes unload containers, sand and fertilizer was interesting – but it quickly became dreary. Our dinner under the stars later that night came with a soundtrack of beeping, grinding, squeaking and other industrial cacophony.

Second, we also missed out on the history, architecture and amazing markets of Marrakesh, which makes me feel sick. UGGGHHH!!!

Instead, we were stuck in the incredibly busy, very large urban jungle of Casablanca. The list of things to do included walking through the grimy Medina, shopping at the tacky bazaar, or eating at McDonalds, KFC, or any other American fast food joint we wanted.

However, there was one beacon of light (literally) available to us, the Hassan II Mosque.

Completed in 1993, the mosque can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside (20,000 men on the main floor and 5,000 women crammed in the balconies), plus another 75,000 in the giant plaza outside.

In contrast to the Christian churches seen throughout our journey, the inside has no statues, paintings or iconography. It also has no seating:

But it does have amazing craftsmanship throughout, including chandeliers from Murano (Venice),

Unbelievably intricate plaster-work.

Decorative woodwork everywhere:

And mosaics abound:

The scale of the inside is epic, and it even has a retractable roof (which was not open at the time):

And at night it has a giant laser on the roof that alternately points to Mecca and to Heaven.

While skipping the Marrakesh Express was a lamentable error, the Hassan II mosque provided some reprieve from our bad decision-making.

Seeking additional reprieve, we sought out another Casablanca landmark:

Too bad this isn’t the original Rick’s cafe. In fact, we learned there never was a Rick’s Cafe in the first place.

Worse, not a single frame from the movie was filmed in Casablanca – or anywhere in Morocco for that matter! It was all Hollywood.

Bottom line, there is no beautiful friendship between us and Casablanca. Let’s hope the same won’t be said about our final stop, Lisbon!