Here's looking at you, kid

Do you remember that line from the movie Casablanca?  

Well, not only did we see the movie again and again (on the loop in our rooms) but we had dinner last night at Rick's Cafe (a lovely restaurant in an old renovated building created by an American woman in the style of Humphrey Bogart's cafe).  For the last nine years tourists have been flocking here more for the ambiance than the food (though the Moroccan specialties are pretty well prepared.) The piano music, lanterns,  columns and antique furniture with tables in various cubicles bring out nostalgic longings in us all. Hitler's troops never reached Morocco in WW II, but the 1942 movie tells a great story of courage, compassion, romance and more. 

View from the upper level of Rick's Cafe, a popular tourist attraction 

based on Humphrey Bogart's Cafe in the movie Casablanca.

Of course,there is so much more to Casablanca and Morocco.  Because I visited all the Imperial Capitals (Fes, Marrakech and Rabat) 15 years ago, I decided to explore Casablanca this time.  

I was pleasantly surprised that this country is on the right track with improvements in education, health care and economic incentives.  Forty-six  year old Muhammed VI, king since 1999, is the spiritual leader of the country.  He is progressive, popular and eloquent  His reforms may have avoided the Arab spring to spread here. His wife, seen in public often, is trendy and well-liked.  Tourism is thriving because Morocco offers a lot of variety in its four imperial cities.  With the recently built Hasan II Mosque (third largest in the world) the port city of Casablanca is full of new construction and late model cars. 

Morocco, an agricultural state, counts on rain. It has to import wheat during dry years

and exporting such things as apricots and citrus fruit become rare. There is some production of phosphate, leather, silver, salt and other spices.  Fish is plentiful. Even though it has a mountainous region and coastline along the Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean, the climate is hot and dry.

Of the 32 million residents, 6 million live in Casablanca and 2 million in Rabat, the capital.  Twenty percent of the population is berber (there are 36 different tribes) who have lived in Morocco for three thousand years.  Its Jewish history goes back even further, however, only 3,000 are left now, most of them live in Casablanca. Arabs invaded it about 700 years ago and Muslims are the majority here.  Arabic is the official language with French being widely spoken. There are numerous berber dialects.  The Portuguese invaded Morocco in 1515 and stayed for 250 years.     French took it over in 1912.  Morocco declared its independence in 1966 and many natives blame the French for the poor literacy rate which is about 50% (used to be 10% 50 years ago).  Unemployment is around 20%.  Life expectance is 76 years.

Ministry of Islamic Affairs has a lot of influence on society according to Prof. Mejeda Bergash who works at the University of Virginia but brings students back to her native country on study abroad programs. "I am not happy about the tendency toward more conservative ideas and dress. My mother and I never covered our hair, but I see more of a trend now," she said. She also said there are a lot of human rights violations and corruption in  Morocco.  Educational system needs to be improved.  There are 25 cities with universities that are free provided graduates serve their communities for a couple of years after finishing school.

I was happy to participate in Professor Joe Laycock’s Religions of the World class exploring and comparing the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism). We visited the Hassan II mosque, Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic church, and the Museum of Moroccan Judaism to gain a greater understanding of the three faiths and the history of how they have interacted in Northern Africa.

I am standing in front of the Hassan II Mosque,

the third largest mosque in the world (after the 

ones In Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia).

Stained glass walls in the Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic

church.

Historic pieces displayed in the Judaism Museum of Morocco.

Built by a french architect over the waters of the Atlantic, the Hassan II mosque is a master piece that can hold 25,000 people.  It has meeting halls, a huge Turkish bath

and pool,  dozens of purifying fountains and a retractable roof. 

The colorful stain glass windows, telling the story of Jesus, Virgin Mary and trinity, created by a French artist, line every wall inside the Notre Dame de Lourdes church.  The Sacred Heart Catholic Church, a few blocks away, is shuttered.

The curator at the Museum of Moroccan Judaism explained the Morocco's Jewish

history and explained the collection of displays from all corners of Morocco, mostly after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 when thousands of Sephardic Jews escaped to Morocco or the Ottoman Empire.