Casablanca

Main Hall of Mosque Hassan II

WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE 2008

We visited the Mosque of Hassan II which has to count as one of the most fantastic buildings I have ever seen. Everything is on an enormous scale. The Mosque covers 968,774 sq. ft., two thirds of which is built over the sea. 

The beautifully decorated Minaret is 656 ft. high. The prayer hall can accommodate 25,000 people and there is space for another 80,000 outside. The Mosque only took 6 years to complete with 35,000 craftsmen working on it 24 hours a day seven days a week in shifts. Everything is of the highest standard with carved stucco, tiles, painted cedar ceilings and marble floors. The two ablusion rooms are fantastic with several fountains, and there is a beautiful spa pool which will eventually be open to the public to use.

We had a cocktail and lunch in Rick’s bar which is a restaurant on 3 floors in the style of Rick’s bar in Casablanca and the film plays non stop in one of the rooms. We had a meal in the evening where the music ranged from Moroccan, jazz, rock and roll, pop and rap and there were people smoking a hookah on the next table.

We caught the train back to Ceuta the next day and have now covered most of the rail network in Morocco!