Day 1: CASABLANCA – ARRIVAL + ½ DAY SIGHTSEEING HERI EL SOUANI GRANARY: This large 17th-century high-vaulted building served both as a granary and feed store for the 12,000 steeds in Moulay Ismail’s vast • Arrival at Casablanca Mohammed V Airport stables. These chambers are immense – Moulay Ismail was always ready for a • Welcome by your tour escort guide and transfer to your hotel for check in siege or drought. Take the stairs to the pleasant rooftop café-garden, with a fine • Proceed with a visit of the city with your English speaking guide view of the city and the huge Aguedal Basin, once used to irrigate the imperial city’s gardens. HASSAN II MOSQUE: the biggest mosque in the world after the one of the Mecca, with room for more than 100,000 worshipers. Inaugurated in 1993, it took 6,000 MARKETS AND SQUARES: Meknes has one of the busiest medinas in Morocco. traditional Moroccan artisans five years to build this magnificent mosque, with its The Place El-Hedime, located exactly between the old town and the Imperial part intricate mosaics, stone and marble floors and columns, sculpted plaster moldings, of the city, houses the covered market and becomes busy at dusk: fire-swallow- carved and painted wood ceilings. At 210 metres (689 feet), the minaret is Moroc- ers, storytellers, animal trainers and jugglers create an atmosphere different from co’s tallest structure. anything you are used to. – Lunch included at a local restaurant – Continuation to Fez & stop to visit Volubilis Volubilis Ruins. The fertile lands of the province THE HABBOUS DISTRICT: This new medina was built according to the traditional produced many commodities such as grain and olive oil, which were exported to model and is in the south of the city in the Habous neighbourhood. You will have Rome, contributing to the province’s wealth and prosperity. Arrival to Fez by the a pleasant time admiring its little squares, arcades and numerous craft shops. end of the afternoon – Check in dinner and overnight at Barcelo Fes 4*
ART DECO BUILDINGS: You’ll discover the city’s rich architectural heritage, a Day 3: FEZ blend of French-colonial design and traditional Moroccan style known as Maur- esque architecture. Developed in the 1930s and heavily influenced by the Art Buffet breakfast at the hotel – Departure with English speaking tour escort guide Deco movement, it embraced decorative details such as intricate carved friezes, to city-sightseeing, the spiritual capital of Morocco, you’ll visit: beautiful tile work and ornate wrought-iron balconies. THE KARAOUIYINE MOSQUE is one of the most imposing in Morocco. It houses a CATHEDRAL SACRE COEUR: Casablanca’s cathedral was built in 1930, when university which is thought to be the oldest in the world and which was founded Morocco was still under the rule of Catholic France. Falling into disuse after Mo- in the middle of the 9th century. rocco’s independence in 1956, the Cathédrale Sacré-Coeur was used as a school and then a culture center. Today, it hosts fairs and exhibitions. BOU INANIA MADERSA: a breathtaking 14th-century religious college. The best example of Islamic architecture a non-Muslim can see in Fez, with wooden THE SEA SIDE CORNICHE: The Aïn-Diab coast, the seaside annex of the city, is walls elaborately carved with geometric patterns and Arabic calligraphy, and a the traditional spot for inhabitants of Casablanca going out for the evening, beautiful minaret. especially at weekends. Trendy restaurants and popular pubs abound along the seafront. The atmosphere is so cosmopolitan that it is as easy to find a FONDOUK EL-NEJJARINE: also known as“Wood Museum” faces the old Place el- sushi restaurant as one specialised in Moroccan dishes. The discotheques open Nejjarine or the “Carpenter’s Square.” The fondouk was constructed in the 18th later on in the evening. Boulevard Mohammed V, in the city centre, is full of century and originally served as a “caravanaserai” or “roadside inn” for travelers restaurants, some of which have kept their 1920’s decoration. Another curiosity: and traders. you can have a drink in a perfectly recreated copy of the famous café in the film Casablanca. Dinner and overnight at the Barceló hotel. TANNERIES: There are a couple of shops that sell good dyed in the local tanner- ies that have terraces where you can, without cost, look down on the terraces. Day 2: CASABLANCA / MEKNES / FEZ The cost is free, but you may get guilted into buying some handmade Moroccan leather Buffet breakfast at the hotel – Departure with your Tour Escort guide to Fez. On goods. the way, Stop to visit Meknes, the Ismalian capital, famous for its 40 km long walls, visit of: – Bab (gate) Mansour: Dominating the southern end of the square Lunch included at a local restaurant inside is the monumental gateway of Bab Mansour, the crowning jewel of Moulay the medina. – In the Afternoon: continuation Ismail’s architectural legacy, commissioned by him but finished during his son’s of the visit of Fez: Souk shopping: Continu- reign, in 1732. Intricately decorated with richly coloured tiles and flanked by two ing along the Talaa Kebira, at the foot of a bastions supported in part by columns plundered from Volubilis, it marks the hill, you will find the Souk el Attarine (the (512) 287-0844 entrance to the vast precincts of the imperial court. perfume or spice market). [email protected] www.danielsleisuretravel.com