Help, we are going on holiday…

This is the first time that I wonder if we took the right holiday decision. It is not easy when several persons with different interests want to go on a holiday together to spend some quality time. Maybe wrong reasons were at the base of our destination choice this time.

But however we turn it, the flight tickets are ready, a hotel booked and we will be heading, as mentioned in my previous post…to Casablanca, for a few days, with a quick stop in Lisbon before. And no one, apart from me  is really motivated. And this only because I am an extremely positive person…desperately trying not to be dragged down by this exceptional gloomy holiday mood – now that is controversial. This also means that I have to be the holiday animator, which always looked like a cool job so far, but doubts are allowed in this particular case.

To start with I have to get some information on what to see in Casablanca and some nice activities to be spread between sightseeing (in order to disguise the sightseeing). If eating can be looked at as an activity, I might be lucky. Restaurants seem to be available by tons and I can always find followers for a nice pastilla. We will have to pay for excess weight on the way back.

Otherwise even guide books on Casablanca seem to be tough to find. There are Marrakech guides, Essaouira guides, Agadir guides. And only about 14 pages on Casablanca in the National Geographic guide when they wrote at least the triple on Agadir and Marrakech. And I have not even found a paperback of the Casablanca Lonely Planet in my local bookstore yet. Probably there was not enough to fill an entire guide book as the site also only points out 9 “to do’s”. As if everyone agrees with the remarks I get “why Casablanca, nothing to see, nothing to do”.

These are the few places on my list I want to visit during our stay in Casablanca:
– Sacré-Coeur Cathedral
– Hassan II Mosque
– Place Mohammed V
– Beaches (excerpt from the guide: However, the promenade packed with walkers and joggers is really a potholed pavement and in between the busy beach clubs, the view is spoiled by abandoned pleasure grounds and concrete swimming pools filled with construction rubbish – now that sounds encouraging)
– The Jewish Museum
– Quartier Habous
– Ancienne Medina
– Villa des Arts
– Chleuh Mosque
– Parque de la ligue Arabe
– Royal Palace

I do not even mention that next to the above listed sights three of them got a “like” sign, two a “don’t like” sign and the rest was not worth to be rated. And after a few pages they send you straight out of Casablanca to El Jalidia, Oualidia…

At least there is one good side about this holiday. I definitely do not expect too much and it will be hard to disappoint me. I will try my best though to prove everyone wrong, my travel companions to start with and all the ones commenting on our holiday destination and come back to say: Wow, Casablanca, what a town, you definitely should visit it, such a cool place!

And hopefully I will be able to write a great next post with plenty of pictures and ideas of what to see and what to do in CASABLANCA.

“A strong mind always hopes, and has always cause to hope.”
– Thomas Carlyle –

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