April 6, 2025

Casablanca, Morocco > Milano, Italia

Is it Morocco or Maroc? The official name of the country is The Kingdom of Morocco. Morocco in French is Maroc. You see Maroc used all over the place. It makes sense as the country was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956. Most people here speak not only Arabic but also French, English and Berber. Most signs are in Arabic, Berber and English. It is interesting what a colonial empire can do to a country.

This afternoon our flight leaves at 14:45; we will be on Royal Air Maroc. Mary slept in a bit as there was no real hurry to get going. At 07:00 I went down for breakfast. Again, nothing to write home about. Just a cappuccino and croissant with jam. The cappuccino is better today, but still not to standard.

We went downstairs at 09:30 to be prepared to meet our driver for the ride to the airport. The airport is about thirty minutes from the hotel, back on the A4. Turns out our driver this morning is the same man who has been driving all week. Now we were in a Mercedes minivan instead of a motor coach. There was five of us. Four ladies and me. I got to sit in the front passenger seat.

Now along the way to the airport, yesterday and today, there were signs for KITEA or sometimes KITEA GÉANT. Looked a lot like IKEA. I finally got to ask if KITEA and IKEA were the same or different. Apparently KITEA was created about a decade ago to compete with IKEA, and keep IKEA out of the home furnishings market in Africa. Interesting that someone had the gonads to take on the Swedish giant. Apparently, it is more popular than IKEA. There are two IKEA’s in Casablanca. Three in all of Morocco.

Anyway, we left the hotel at 10:00 and got to the airport at 10:30. We had instructions from Royal Air Maroc that we should be there four hours before our flight. Well we made that easily. We checked-in at the counter and gave them our two bags. We headed off for security and then passport control.

Security was tight, but we still didn’t have to take off our shoes, thankfully. We walked right up the the trays and put or stuff in. We were though security by 10:45. Then it was passport control. There was a short line, and we were finished with it by 11:00. Honestly it took longer to find the Royal Air Maroc lounge than security and passport control.

The lounge is on two levels. Aziz told us to go to the lower level as it was bigger and had more to offer. He was correct. They were still serving breakfast items at 11:30 when we showed up. We got a cappuccino, machine-made, and a croissant and found a place to sit for the next two and a half hours.

The changed over to lunch just after 12:00. We got a little sandwich and something else to drink. I sat and finished my book, Mary played word and read her feeds. Finally, at 1:45 we headed to the gate. They boarding time is 14:00.

The airport is fairly large and new. Lots of different services, places to shop and places to get something to eat or drink. Prior to 1997 Morocco only allowed Royal Air Maroc to fly in and out of Morocco, without significant restrictions. In 2002 the United States and Morocco signed an open-air agreement. And in 2006 the European Union and Morocco signed an open-air agreement. Since that time tourism and air travel to Morocco have increased significantly.

Royal Air Morocco is a partner in the OneWorld group with the likes of American Airlines. The plane we were on was a 737 but looked well maintained, both the interior and exterior looked fresh. The service on board was very good. The food wasn’t bad on the flight out. On the flight back it was actually pretty good.

Because of the switch today to daylight savings time, we actually arrive at Malpensa at 16:45. It is really only a three-hour flight between Malpensa and Casablanca. Several of the people in our group flew in and out of Lisboa on TAP airlines. The flight between Lisboa and Casablanca is all of twenty minutes. And it is only an hour and thirty-five minutes to Marrakesh. The prices don’t look all that bad either.

We actually landed on-time, but there was some taxi and gate waiting which added about fifteen minutes to the gate arrival. Once at the gate we headed off to passport control and baggage claim. It was an incredibly long walk. Malpensa is doing a complete make over which is expected to be completed sometime in 2026. That probably added some walking.

Passport control, with our Italian passports, is really fast. Especially when they put you in the diplomatic line due to your “handicap”. They see they cane and simply don’t want me walking too far. It had already been far enough. By the time we exited passport control our bags were on the belt being delivered. We grabbed the bags and headed out the door.

The walk to the Sheraton really isn’t that far. Mary and I both remarked that we knew this airport better than SFO. True, but not sadly so. Due to our platinum member status, we got a room upgrade, club privileges and breakfast included. We got to the room just after it had gone 20:00. We headed down to the club lounge for a drink and something to eat.

They downsized the club a few years ago here. It isn’t much anymore and there really weren’t any food choices we were interested in. So we went to the hotel restaurant, Il Canneto, for some dinner. We both got risotto. Mine was just the “normal” Milanese, Mary got a pumpkin risotto. They were both very good, but way more than we could eat.

After dinner it was back into the room. Since we ate so late there was little possibility of heading off to sleep. I worked on the blog for a while and Mary played on her iPad.  Two hours since we finished dinner have finally passed and now, I will be able to go to sleep comfortably.

We changed our Canadian Rail trip to the end of August (August 22) due to conflicts with Serra being in Sonoma and Leander needing us to pick him up mid-session from Cloverleaf; just like we did with his father, aunt and uncle. We have solidified the flights and times for the Antartica cruise. Going to do Thanksgiving in Kansas City as well as Christmas. Wanted to do more in South America but that is going to have to wait.

Tomorrow off to Torino. Serra and Pietro are off to Morocco when we arrive there. They will be gone a week. We have lots of help so taking care of the girls shouldn’t be any problem. The weather is supposed to be nice all week which helps a lot.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria.