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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Morocco 2025 Day 12: Essaouira to Casablanca
Morocco 2024 Day 12: 26th April (Saturday)
Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Day 12 - Essaouira to Casablanca:
This is page 12 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
Route recommendations, here are some tips on travelling to and around Morocco:
1. Traffic Directions!
Driving in Morocco is left-hand drive, and driving is on the right-hand side of the road. Do look to the correct side when crossing roads.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.
2. Immigration & Customs Requirements
For Morocco, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. Click here for visa requirements for other countries.
3. Getting to and around Morocco.
Morocco is easily accessible by air as most major airlines serve Morocco and have flights to major cities such as Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. We flew return via Emirates to Casablanca with transit in Dubai at a fare of MYR4,430 per pax. Do note that Emirates now charges for seat selection.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.
For out-of-pocket spending, we exchanged Euros to Moroccan dirhams (MAD) at local money-changers in Rabat and Rissani. As a contingency, we brought along our Wise debit cards, do note that this may not be acceptable at many places.
4. Places & Things of Interest
En route were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
c. Cooperative D'Argan Marjana (GPS: 31.52061, -9.63021) at Essaouira, staged manual production of Argan Oil (see video of Argan Oil Production).
d. Goats on Argan Tree (GPS: 31.55308, -9.36345) at Mejji.
e. Staged Goats on Argan Trees (GPS: 31.53500, -9.47722) near Lahsinate.
d. Goats on Argan Tree (GPS: 31.55308, -9.36345) at Mejji.
e. Staged Goats on Argan Trees (GPS: 31.53500, -9.47722) near Lahsinate.
f. Sidi Maarouf Cable-Stayed Bridge (GPS: 33.53871, -7.64021) at Casablanca.
g. Marjane Market Casablanca (GPS: 33.59432, -7.60850) to purchase cheaper/better commercially produced Argan Oil.
g. Marjane Market Casablanca (GPS: 33.59432, -7.60850) to purchase cheaper/better commercially produced Argan Oil.
h. Old City of Casablanca (GPS: 33.59760, -7.61353).
5. Food
a. Breakfast
Inclusive hotel Western & Moroccan breakfast at Raoud Rayhan (GPS: 31.62383, -7.98749) in Essaouira.
b. Lunch
b. Lunch
Burger King Chicken Sandwich/Burger with coke/orange juice at the Sidi Bou Othmane RnR (GPS: 31.91954, -8.02521) in Aït Lil.
c. Dinner
Mediterranean fare at Rick's Café (GPS: 33.60504, -7.62040) (Ricks Menu link) in Casablanca:
1. Starter
- Smoked Salmon with Citrus Green and Sweet Mustard Sauce.
2. Main course: Grilled Sea Bass with Curry sauce.
2a.Main Special: Moroccan Braised Lamb Shoulder with Caramelised Dried Fruits.
3. Dessert: Rick's Cheesecake, French Thin Apple Tart & Vanilla ice-cream.
4. Drinks: Mojito Classic.
6. Accommodations
7. Dressing
I brought two long pants along and four shorts. In the end, I didn't wear the shorts as the weather can get quite cold in the morning and evenings, especially with stronger winds at the seaside.
When entering mosques, men can wear shorts, but ladies have to cover up their legs and heads. Scarves and long pants are recommended; if wearing shorts, bring a sarong or something to cover one's legs.
8. Communicating with Each Other
When travelling in a group, it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest.
Upon arrival at Casablanca Airport, booths selling pre-paid sim cards can be found just before exiting the luggage reclaim area. There were booths selling Maroc, Orange, and Inwi pre-paid tourist phone sim cards. We opted for the Maroc sim card as it provides better coverage even in remote areas, which I found to be true, and it only had poor or no signal at remote stretches far in the hills or desert. We got the 15 Gb card, which is valid for one month for 100 MAD. Should this be inadequate, memory can be topped up at any phone shop.
9. Communicating with Locals
At favourite tourist destinations, markets and medinas, many locals speak fairly good English, some French and Spanish. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.
10. Weather
The average day temperature in Essaouira was 25°C, while the average day and night temperatures in Casablanca were 22°C and 17°C, respectively.
Useful weather forecast sites for Essaouira and Casablanca are AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.
11. Navigation
I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.
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PRELUDE
Yesterday, we headed further west to the seaside city of Essaouira, sitting at the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean. We walked through its medina, the UNESCO listed heritage Medina of Essaouira , to reach our riad. After lunch, we explored the Port of Essaouira Sqala and climbed its fort, at the Ramparts of Mogador and the shopped street of Sakala Essaouira Shopping Street.
Today we looped back to the city where we landed to start our tour of Morocco, we headed for Casablanca, hoping to see what this city renown for romance holds for us! Along the way, we stopped at an Argan Oil cooperative centre and later saw goats climbing Argan trees!
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DAY 12: ESSAOUIRA TO CASABLANCA
Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Most of the posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post for more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out of your Facebook first.)
Kicking off the day with a Western & Moroccan breakfast at Raoud Rayhan in Essaouira.
Interesting views on our walk through the Medina of Essaouira to meet our
driver/guide Oualid at BaB Doukkala, it's early morning, and the place was not overly crowded, making for a more pleasant walk than yesterday.
Just at the outskirts of the city, was the Cooperative D'Argan Marjana. This is a community effort to help local ladies improve their livelihoods and promote Argan Oil and Argan products, such as a dipping oil, for medicinal and cosmetic use.
In one section were some ladies demonstrating how they extract the oil manually. It takes about 40 kilograms (88 lb) of dried argan fruit to produce only one litre of oil, which is a lot of hard manual labour for the ladies! The oil produced is intended for use in products sold in an adjacent shopping section. Can the ladies meet the required production volume?
(see video of Argan Oil Production).
In one section were some ladies demonstrating how they extract the oil manually. It takes about 40 kilograms (88 lb) of dried argan fruit to produce only one litre of oil, which is a lot of hard manual labour for the ladies! The oil produced is intended for use in products sold in an adjacent shopping section. Can the ladies meet the required production volume?
(see video of Argan Oil Production).
At the adjacent cooperative shop, a wide range of Argan Oil and similar products lined the shelves. Seems like a lot of products are being made from the oil that the ladies produce manually. It's too high a volume for manual production, so I suspect that most were commercially/factory produced.
After viewing the manual production, the sales girls took us over to the shopping section and gave us a talk on the products on sale at the various counters. They were not too happy when we did not buy much.
After viewing the manual production, the sales girls took us over to the shopping section and gave us a talk on the products on sale at the various counters. They were not too happy when we did not buy much.
Nevertheless, I fell in love with the place and the happy, charming spirit of the Argan ladies. So I left my mark here 😅😂.
Impromptu roadside stop to view climbing goats on Argan Trees, near Lahsinate. Nowadays, the goats are discouraged from eating the Argan leaves and
fruits, so as to protect the industry. Herders will be fined if their goats do
so.
The photos here were staged; a herder and her son were waiting for tourists (like us), and the son put the goats onto the tree for a tip. Most of the goats balanced very well on the trees and started nibbling leaves straight away!
The photos here were staged; a herder and her son were waiting for tourists (like us), and the son put the goats onto the tree for a tip. Most of the goats balanced very well on the trees and started nibbling leaves straight away!
Burger King lunch: Chicken Sandwich/Burger lunch with Coke/orange juice at the Burger King outlet in the Sidi Bou Othmane RnR, Aït Lil. Nearby is also a Circle K
outlet. These shops were located at the RNR on the opposite side of the
highway, accessible through a pedestrian underpass. Not cheap though, a chicken
set with fries/onion rings, coke/orange juice costs 77 Dirhams; what can we say, we were a captive market.
Bird strike van along Route A3 (Casablanca–Marrakesh Expressway), near Megalith rock site t Skhour Rhamna. A low-flying white snipe hit the front windscreen; fortunately, it caused only a small superficial crack at the centre of the windscreen, and we could continue on with our journey.
Arriving in Casablanca, going on the Sidi Maarouf Cable-Stayed Bridge along Route A3 (Casablanca–Marrakesh Expressway). Meeting the evening rush hour.
Arrived in Casablanca and checked into our hotel, Odysee Boutique Hotel.
It's quite centrally located and the rooms were clean and very cosy.
It's quite centrally located and the rooms were clean and very cosy.
1. Starters
- Smoked Salmon with Citrus Green and Sweet Mustard Sauce.
2. Main course: Grilled Sea Bass with Curry sauce.
2a.Mains Special: Moroccan Braised Lamb Shoulder with Caramelised Dried Fruits.
3. Dessert: Rick's Cheesecake, French Thin Apple Tart & Vanilla ice-cream.
4. Drinks: Mojito Classic.
It was a fusion Mediterranean fare, which overall was very good. We did find the mains special a tad sweet though, probably from the Caramelised Dried Fruits.
(click here for Ricks Menu link)
From the hotel, we walked over to the nearby Marjane Market to buy commercially produced Argan Oil. Oil. We are glad that we did, as it's cheaper
here than the cooperatives.
(That's "Goodnight" in Arabic)
(For more photos of Day 12, Click Here)
This is page 12 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
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You are at - Jotaro's Blog /AhPek Biker-Footsteps /Morocco 2025/ D12: Essaouira to Casablanca | Go to D1/D2/D3/D4/D5/D6/D7/D8/D9/D10/D11/D13-14
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