Casablanca is just a short train ride down the coast from Rabat so I thought I’d head down there for the day and check things out. I turned up without much of a plan but it didn’t take long to discover that there is an actual Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.

Turns out a former American diplomat set the place up and designed it after the one in the movie Casablanca. So important to note, the Cafe is based on the movie not the other way around. Judging by the busloads of tourists unloading outside I have to say that this could be one of the best business decisions anyone has ever made. Set that aside, though, and Rick’s has actually become a real version of the thing that it started out imitating.

When thinking about traveling I always have this stereotypical image in my mind of these bars where all the ex-pats hang out and reminisce about home. Generally speaking, I’ve not encountered that anywhere but being such a tourist draw has made Rick’s that kind of place. It was fun sitting at the bar talking to the folks around me who had come from just about every point on the globe.

Moving on from there I just strolled around the rest of the town, down over to the Parc de La Ligue Arabe and on. I tried to go have dinner at the Four Seasons but turns out I was too early so I had to settle for just having some drinks out on their great patio.

As a backup I went up the road to Le Cabestan for dinner. This place has an incredible view of the ocean as well as good food. It’s expensive, even by American standards. It is nicely decorated but it also has exactly the feel that you’d expect from a place that still describes itself as a “social club” un-ironically.