March 27, 2025

March 27, 2025

Torino (AirB&B > Porta Nova Train Station), Italia > Milano Centrale (Milan’s Central Train Station) > Malpensa (Milano) Airport > Casablanca’s Mohammed V Airport, Morocco > Kyriad Résidence Casablanca Centre-ville (Angle Rue Laon et, Rue Qortobi, Dar-el-Bedia, Morocco)

Yet another travel day.  Today we begin the ten day Cosmos Tour of Morocco. Actually, we are going to arrive a day ahead of schedule, just to allow for trip interruptions which may occur along the way. We have our train tickets to Milano Centrale and then on to Malpensa on the Malpensa Express.

The first train in the Frecciarossa 9535 from Torino Porta Nova at 11:00. Business class with a table between us so we can play cards to pass the time. It is just over an hour to Milano Centrale. We’ll get there twenty minutes before the Malpensa Express we have tickets for. We may get a panino at the train station, or wait until we get to the aeroporto. We should be at the aeroporto by 13:16.

Our flight to Morocco is on Royla Air Maroc  (AT951) which leaves at 17:05. The instructions emailed to me by the airline is to be three hours early. So, we’ll make that deadline, although I doubt it will be necessary. Famous last words. On the return trip they want you at the airport in Morocco four hours ahead of time, again seems over kill, but we’ll find out.

We are off to have a cappuccino and brioche at The Place near Serra’s. Then we’ll stop by and say goodbye to them. I’ll call a taxi to take us to the train station or if there are taxis at the taxi stand across the piazza we’ll just walk over and get one.

We are still amazed the a cappuccino and brioche for the both of us is less than €6. The cappuccino alone in California would be pretty close to €6. The Place is right in the middle of the University and next door to a high school. Maybe that is why? Doesn’t matter it is a good cappuccino and the brioche are fresh.

We stopped at Serra’s. Said hi to everybody and then went back to the apartment. We were a little ahead of schedule so we just took the time to relax. Our check out time is 10:30, but we left at 10:00 anyway. We walked over to the taxi stand in the piazza and took a taxi to Porta Nova. It was a €10 ride.

We unloaded in Porta Nova train station and walked around. For the first time I went upstairs where the “food court” was. I was really surprised at how nice it was and it is more than a food court. It is also a fairly large waiting area with nice places to sit. I went back down stairs and got another David Baldacci book – “Total Control”.

We then checked out the departures board and saw our train listed as being on track 10. Beginning March 1, they have instituted gate controls at the tracks. So, we used my phone and the online QR code to enter the tracks. We have seen the gates here and in Milan, but they weren’t ever in use. Now they are. Very easy to use. We boarded the train. Although the purpose of taking the train vs the bus was that we could play cards, Mary wasn’t up to it, so I read.

We got to Milano Centrale just after it has gone noon. The Malpensa Express on which we have tickets leaves at 12:25. So, we walked from the arrival platform to track 1, where the Malpensa express leaves from, and when we arrived the train was there. We boarded and found seats for the 50 minute ride to the airport.

Arriving at the airport we checked the departures board and saw that check-in for the flight to Morocco was at #7. We headed upstairs to the check-in gates, got to #7 only to find out they weren’t open yet. It is 13:30. Since the flight leaves at 17:05, we suspect that the check-in gate will open at 14:00.

We walked and got a soft drink and used the restrooms. We returned just after it has gone 14:00. The check-in area was open, and there was an incredibly long line. Where did all these people come from. They weren’t anywhere to be seen near here 25 minutes ago. Fortunately, we are in business class, and the business class line only had one other person in it.

We checked-in, checked our bags and were told we could use the lounge. So, we took off tackle security and immigration. As we approached the entrance to security the guard redirected us to  the priority line, we assume due to the cane. The line here was much shorter than the regular security line. It took about 20 minutes to get through security.

We headed towards the lounge. There are multiple lounges here, with different names. Not one of them was Royal Air Maroc. We knew we would be at “B” gates, but wouldn’t know which one for an hour or so. So we walked towards the “B” gates. We actually walked quite a distance to the furthest away “B” gate. Here we found a lounge but again no specific identification as the Royal Air Maroc lounge. Several other airlines, but still no Royal Air Maroc.

Well, we decided to give it a try anyway. Sure enough they let us is. Would they others have done so as well? We’ll have to test that theory some day.   

The lounge itself wasn’t anything spectacular. In fact, it was quite sparsely furnished. Ikea furniture on a fake wood floor. It brought back memories of the sparse minimalist designe period of the 1960’s.  The food wasn’t much or interesting. They had juice, soft drinks and wine. More importantly they had a table at which we could sit and play cards.

We played a full game of canasta, I won. After looking at the departures board in the lounge we found our gate had been posted – B54. So, we left the lounge and headed to B54. Well, B54 is almost back where we exited security. It was a nice walk.

We found B54 and there was a closed off area after the check-in desk. There were chairs there, so we went in. After about 30 minutes a counter person came in a shooed everyone out. When she got us, I held up my cane and business class tickets. She took the tickets, scanned them and came back and handed them to me. She didn’t ask us to leave.

A few minute slater they began loading those people in wheelchairs. We got up and headed back to where they were scanning the boarding cards. We sort-of nudged ourselves between the wheelchairs and the other people trying to board. She took our tickets, scanned them and again and pointed towards the gate.

We were off. We got down the ramp, turned the corner in the ramp and came to a place where they had a retractable belt stanchion across they ramp. We took this as an indication that we should wait here. The people in the wheelchairs were on the other side of the belt.

After a few minutes they took the wheelchairs the rest of the way down the ramp. The wheelchairs came back empty, and they they undid the retractable belt and let us board. We are always concerned when we are in row 1 that there will be someplace to put our carryons.

Today’s aircraft is a Boeing 737 narrow body. They simply don’t have much luggage storage room. But we were the first mobile people on the plane, so finding space for our carry-ons wasn’t an issue. Yes, the pull-down baggage compartment above our seats were for medical supplies, but the ones for the seats across the isle were available, well that was until we filled them up with our stuff.

The service was very good. They offered us a dinner which was surprising edible. They didn’t have warm nuts to accompany our aperitif. It was in a package like Southwest used to serve, but these contained higher quality nuts and were fresh. The appetizer was a salad with a light vinaigrette dressing and slices of nicely seasoned beef. We chose different main courses. Mary had the penne all’arrabiatta. Spicy like it should be without being overbearing. I chose the beef in a red wine reduction, with mashed potatoes and green beans. Honestly, they were probably one of the best airplane meals we have ever had.

The three-and-a-half-hour flight went by quickly. It was dark as we approached Casablanca. It was after all getting close to 19:30; yes, we gained an hour with a time change.  Looking out the window you could see lights all the way to the horizon.

Our impression of Casablanca comes from the 1942 Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman film that bears the cities name. Looking out the window we could see that what we were approaching wasn’t anything like the film. In fact, Casablanca is a city of over three million people. It is Morocco’s economic and business center, and the eighth-largest city in the Arab world. Casablanca is located on the Atlantic coast and is one of the largest artificial ports in Africa, and the third largest port in North Africa, after Tanger-Med and Port Said.

The Royal Moroccan Nay uses this port as its primary naval base. The Casablanca Stock Exchange is Africa’s third largest, in terms of market capitalization (Dec 2022). On the Global Financial centers index it ranks just below Brussels and just ahead of Roma!

The area now known as Casablanca had a history reaching back to the seventh century when it was founded by the Berbers and the Kingdom of Barghawata. The Phoenicians and Romans used the port. Then the Almoravids conquered the city in 1068. Arab tribes settled in the region in the 12th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries, under the Merinids, the port rose in importance to world trade.

In the 15th century Casablanca emerged as a safe harbor for pirates and privateers. Then in 1468 the Portuguese annoyed by the pirates bombarded the town in to ruins and supplanted it a town they called Casa Branca (meaning White House). Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah, and ally of the United States rebuilt the town between 1756 and 1790. The town was called ad-Dār al-Baydā, the Arabic translation of Casa Branca.

In the 19th century, the area's population began to grow as it became a major supplier of wool to the booming textile industry in Britain and shipping traffic increased. The British, in return, began importing gunpowder tea, which is used in Morocco's national drink, mint tea. Gunpowder tea is a form of tea in which each leaf has been individually rolled into a small pellet. It can be either green tea (most common) or oolong tea.

By the 1860s Casablanca had around 5,000 residents, and the population grew to around 10,000 by the late 1880s. Casablanca remained a modestly sized port, with a population reaching around 12,000 when the French, in 1906, decided Morocco should be a French Colony. By 1921, Casablanca had 110,000 residents.

French control of Casablanca was formalized March 1912 when the Treaty of Fes established the French Protectorat. Under French imperial control, Casablanca became a port of colonial extraction.

Right at the beginning of the twentieth century when Morocco was officially declared a French protectorate, the French decided to shift power to Morocco's coastal areas (i.e. Rabat and Casablanca) at the expense of its interior areas (i.e. Fez and Marrakech). Rabat was made the administrative capital of the country and Casablanca its economic capital.

After Philippe Pétain of France signed the armistice with the Nazis, he ordered French troops in France's colonial empire to defend French territory against any aggressors—Allied or otherwise—applying a policy of "asymmetrical neutrality" in favor of the Germans. French colonists in Morocco generally supported Pétain, while Moroccans tended to favor de Gaulle and the Allies.

Then on 8 November 1942, Operation Torch began. This was the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. The Western Task Force, composed of American units led by Major General George S. Patton and Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt, carried out the invasions of Mehdia, Fedhala, and Asfi. American forces captured Casablanca from Vichy control when France surrendered 11 November 1942, but the Naval Battle of Casablanca continued until American forces sank German submarine U-173 on 16 November. Of course now you have to watch the movie Patton to see the scenes from Mehdia.  

Throughout WWII Casablanca was the site of the Berrechid Airfield, a large American air base used as the staging area for all American aircraft for the European Theatre of Operation. We landed at The Mohammed V International Airport which was the site of the Berrechid Airfield. It is about 16 mines southwest of our hotel here in Casablanca.

Now that the shock of Casablanca’s size has worn off, we deplaned and headed to immigration. Fortunately, because we were in business class we get to use the “fast track” immigration. It may be a misnomer called it fast track, although compared to the huddled masses standing in line for regular immigration, it is probably, on a comparative bases faster. It still took nearly a half hour to get processed.

Once through immigration we were off to collect our bags. It was one of those rare times when the bags reached the belt before we got there. We are pleased we changed from the soft sides bags we used in Tanzania to our small roller bags. Much easier to maneuver.

We walked outside into the warm night air. There were hundreds of people waiting to greet family and friends. Among them was a tall bald gentlemen holding a Cosmos sign. It was a nice 16°C (61°F) outside with a warm gentle breeze.

The gentleman took our bags and lead us to a nice all black Mercedes van with deeply tinted windows. He didn’t speak much English but we understood that there was another couple he was supposed to pick up. We said we would wait while he went and got them. He returned just a few minutes later and said their plane was delayed and would be here until 21:45.

Waiting in the van for another hour and a half isn’t what we saw on the program. For us it was already 21:30. We didn’t know how far or how long it would take to get to the hotel, but we were ready to go to the hotel. We indicated we would prefer not to wait but go to the hotel now. He apparently agreed and buttoned up the car and began pulling out of the parking spot.

Now there isn’t much you can see through the heavily tinted windows. But you can see the back up lights on a car careening towards you. I let out a frantic yell, and the driver got the point and stopped. Fortunately a collision was avoided. There clearly is a parking issue at the airport.

We headed off into town. Looking out the windows as we drove we couldn’t see much. Mostly lights in the distance. The road seemed modern and well paved. There weren’t any businesses at first along the road, there weren’t really in lights to indicate much of anything. The road was straight with a number of roundabouts rather than overpasses. As we got closer to “town” we noticed people walking along the road (actually more like a two lane (each way) divided road). Then cars would appear stopped along the road side.

Once we got into the more populated area, we noticed that Moroccans either learned parking from the Italians or taught the Italians. They simply parked wherever. In the center median, two or three deep on the roadside, or simply at various angles to the road where their car would fit. At one point the two lane road dwindled down to a one lane road due to the parked cars. After a bit it opened back up. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see what cause this due to the tinted windows.

The “highway” finally ended as we entered what would turn out to be the city center. We saw multiple McDonalds and KFC locations on the short drive in the city. We passed the tourist bus parking area. There must have been fifty or more buses. Then we turned the corner and were at our hotel Kyraid Résidence. Actually, it is a long rectangular building housing several different hotels. All tourist hotels, but of different quality.

We checked into our room, unpacked our PJ’s and headed to bed. It was too dark to see out of our ceiling to floor wall of window looking outside. The room is again decorated in 1960’s minimalist design. We think this is where all the furniture from the late 50’s and early 60’s went.

It was close to 22:00 when our heads hit the firm rigid pillow, and our body hit the soft but rigid mattress. We didn’t care; it was too late to care.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria