Mazagan: Moroccan for Luxury (Part 3 of 4)

Mazagan's Inner Courtyard

In Vegas, everybody's gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all. 

- Robert DeNiro as Ace Rothstein in 1995's Casino

Between repeat visits to the imperial cities of Marrakesh and Fes, I couldn't help but feel like we'd slipped into a black hole as we approached the central Atlantic coast north of El-Jadida.  At the opposite end of the hole, we popped up in the Bahamas and one of its mega-resorts.   

 On the Other Side of the Black Hole...

...Some Sprout Rabbit Ears

Though not a part of the Bahamas or Vegas scene, I still couldn't help but feel the presence of some "eye-in-the-sky" at the exclusive, five-star Mazagan Resort.  In truth, the resort hosts a tiny casino; however, around these parts, it proclaims itself the largest of its type in all of North Africa.  I believe it.  


Sitting on over 250 hectares of land, the 500-room resort lacked for nothing that one would expect to find in any western resort peppered around the Bahamas, the southern coast or the big cities.  Home to a golf course, huge spa, tennis courts and private villas lined along the beach front, we could've spent days in the reprieve without doing the same thing twice if our wallets could have handled it (which they couldn't)!

Raven between the Spa and its Fountain

Our Room's View over the Adjacent Pool and some Coast

After dining at two of the restaurants, spending less than a half hour in the casino and twice that long atop horseback, we were tapped after two evenings.  I've stayed at some pretty nice places since arriving a couple months ago, but this was my first western-style hotel.  Convinced that it's the only one of its type, I'm happy to end the search here.

"Roby" and "Pascaw," Getting Along on the Trail

"You're paying." "No, you're...ok, I'm paying."

Sunset over El-Jadida

Maybe that "eye-in-the-sky" feeling was the result of too many gambling movies.  Maybe it was something else...