Casablanca (الدار البيضاء — "the White House" in Arabic, though the original Berber name was Anfa) is Morocco's largest city (3.7 million in the city, 6 million in the metropolitan area), the economic capital of the Maghreb, and the commercial center of the Arab world's most dynamic economy. The Casablanca of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman (the 1942 Warner Bros. film was entirely shot in Hollywood — Bogart never visited Morocco and the film's "Rick's Café" did not exist until an American businesswoman opened it in 2004) is both a myth and a reality: the Moorish Art Deco architecture of the Médina and the Hassan II Boulevard quartier, the French colonial boulevards of the European Quarter, and the extraordinary Mosquée Hassan II (the third largest mosque in the world, with the tallest minaret in the world (210m) — built on a promontory over the Atlantic Ocean by 35,000 craftsmen over 6 years (1987–1993)), make Casablanca one of the most architecturally layered cities in the Maghreb. The city's food culture is a sophisticated synthesis of Moroccan, Andalusian and French traditions: the finest seafood in Morocco (the port is the largest fishing port in Africa), the most refined pastilla (the sweet-savory pigeon pie in crispy filo pastry dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar) and the best French-Moroccan fusion cooking in North Africa.
La Mosquée Hassan II (the mosque built on a promontory over the Atlantic Ocean (King Hassan II's reasoning: "God's throne is on the water" — Quran 11:7) — the third largest mosque in the world after Masjid al-Haram (Mecca) and Masjid an-Nabawi (Medina): 210m minaret (the world's tallest, with a laser beam pointing toward Mecca), capacity 25,000 inside and 80,000 in the courtyard, the retractable glass roof, the floor panels that can be slid open to show the ocean below, the marble, onyx and cedar wood interior (all materials from Morocco). 35,000 craftsmen from 10 Moroccan cities worked for 6 years. Non-Muslim visitors permitted on guided tours only (MAD 120).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Ancienne Médina (the old medina of Casablanca — the original 15th-century Portuguese and Moroccan city before the French built the new planned city in 1907: a small, compact and relatively quiet medina by Moroccan standards (not as overwhelming as Fes or Marrakech), with traditional artisan workshops (the coppersmiths, the leather workers, the shoe-makers), the Sqala (the Portuguese bastion at the medina wall) and the small mosques and fountains of the 15th–17th century city. The Kissaria (the covered market for fabric and clothing) is the most atmospheric section.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Quartier des Habous (the new medina built by the French colonial administration in the 1930s — a brilliant hybrid of traditional Moroccan medina architecture (the souks, the mosques, the kissaria, the fountain squares) and French colonial planning and building techniques: the arched arcades, the clean proportions and the combination of Moorish tilework with French civic design. The pastry shops of the Habous (the best mhancha (the almond-filled pastry coil), the ka'ak (the sesame-covered biscuits) and the shebakia (the honey-fried pastry) in Casablanca) are directly adjacent to the mahkama (the court building, 1952 — the finest example of Moorish-colonial architecture in Morocco).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Corniche Aïn Diab (the oceanfront boulevard of Casablanca, 8km south of the city center): the seafood restaurants facing the Atlantic Ocean serve the freshest fish in Morocco — Casablanca's port (Port de Casablanca — the largest container port in Africa and the largest fishing port in Africa) means the calamari was in the water this morning. La Sqala (the finest Moroccan seafood restaurant in the city, inside the Portuguese bastion walls), or the corniche restaurants for grilled daurade (sea bream), gambas (king prawns) and the Atlantic lobster from the tanks.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCasablanca's Art Deco city (the "Mauresque" or "Style Louis XIV" style — the unique architectural synthesis of 1920s–1940s French Art Deco with Moroccan Moorish decoration: the symmetrical facades, the geometric ornamentation, the balconies with wrought-iron Berber-star grilles, the tiled vestibules. The finest examples: the Cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur (1930, no longer active but with the extraordinary stained glass), the Villa des Arts (the 1933 Art Deco villa converted to contemporary art center), the Boulevard Mohammed V (the finest Art Deco boulevard in the Maghreb), and the Hotel Volubilis (1952 — the largest intact example of the style). Download the Casablanca Art Deco walking map from the Fondation du Patrimoine.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRick's Café (248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, Médina — the bar-restaurant created by American Kathy Kriger in 2004, inspired by the fictional Rick's American Café from the 1942 Casablanca film — she asked Warner Bros. for permission to use the name, invested $1.8 million in a 1930s Moroccan riad conversion, and opened what is now consistently ranked among the finest bars and restaurants in Morocco: the piano bar, the Moroccan-French menu (pastilla, harira, tagine), the rooftop terrace and the complete Casablanca paraphernalia make it as much a place of cultural pilgrimage as a restaurant). "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world..." Reservations essential.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMarché Central (Rue Chaouia — the great covered market in the heart of the Casablanca ville nouvelle (the new French colonial city): the most important market in Morocco for its variety and quality. The fish hall (the freshest Atlantic tuna, swordfish, sea bass, langoustine, clams and shrimp from the port this morning), the spice sellers (the finest ras el hanout in Morocco is bought here, by weight, freshly ground), the fruit and vegetable hall (argan oil from the cooperative sellers, fresh Moroccan orange juice at ¥5 per glass) and the patisseries.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Bodega (129 Rue Allal Ben Abdellah — the Spanish-Moroccan tapas bar of Casablanca, the best bar food in the city: the jamón ibérico, the patatas bravas, the tortilla española and the Moroccan-fusion pintxos (the olive tapenade on bread with preserved lemon and chermoula, the anchovy with argan oil and cumin). The wine list is one of the best in Morocco (the Moroccan wine industry (the Meknès and Benslimane vineyards) produces excellent Grenache and Syrah, unknown outside Morocco).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRabat (the capital of Morocco — 1 hour by ONCF train from Casa Voyageurs station, MAD 55 (€5 first class)): the Mohammed V Mausoleum (the finest Islamic funerary monument in the Maghreb — the white onyx tomb of King Mohammed V (d. 1961) and King Hassan II (d. 1999) in the courtyard of the Hassan Tower (the minaret of the unfinished Almohad mosque, 1195 AD — only 44m of the intended 60m were built before the sultan's death in 1199, now the most atmospheric historical site in Morocco)), the Kasbah des Oudaïas (the 12th-century Almohad fortress above the mouth of the Bou Regreg river), and the Medina of Rabat (quieter and more intimate than Fes or Marrakech).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Sidi Abderrahmane shrine (the 11th-century Sufi saint's shrine on a tiny island off the Aïn Diab Corniche, accessible by causeway only at low tide): one of the most unusual and atmospheric holy sites in Morocco — the white buildings of the shrine complex on the rocky islet, the Atlantic waves breaking around it, the pilgrims crossing when the tide permits. Strictly non-Muslim visitors respect the holy character of the site and do not enter, but the exterior and the coastal walk are accessible to all.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBastilla (pastilla — the greatest single dish of Moroccan cuisine: a large round pie of crispy warka (the thin pastry, thinner than filo, made by dabbing a ball of dough on a very hot pan repeatedly to build up layers) filled with pigeon (or chicken) cooked in saffron, onion, ginger and cinnamon, with a layer of ground almonds fried in sugar, and the whole thing dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon — the most extraordinary combination of sweet and savory in North African cooking, with an origin in the Andalusian court cuisine of Muslim Spain. Le Petit Rocher (Boulevard de la Corniche — the finest Moroccan fine dining on the corniche, with the Atlantic Ocean view).
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