Casablanca (الدار البيضاء — Ad-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, "The White House" in Arabic — population 3.75 million in the city, 5.1 million in the Grand Casablanca region — the economic capital of Morocco and the largest city in the Maghreb) is the city that the world knows from the Humphrey Bogart film but has little to do with it (the film (1942) was entirely shot in Hollywood: there is no "Rick's Café" in the real Casablanca — or rather there is now, a 2004 reconstruction built for tourists). The real Casablanca is the most modern, most industrialized and most economically powerful city in Morocco: the commercial and financial capital (70% of Morocco's industrial production is in the Grand Casablanca region), the largest port in Africa by container traffic, and the city that has the most remarkable modern architecture in the Maghreb: the Hassan II Mosque (1993 — the largest mosque in Africa and the 7th-largest in the world, built on a promontory extending over the Atlantic Ocean, with the world's tallest minaret (210m), the retractable roof and the glass floor through which the Atlantic is visible during prayers), the Art Deco downtown (the most concentrated collection of 1920s–1940s Art Deco architecture outside Miami — the Marché Central, the Villa des Arts and the entire grid of the Ville Nouvelle (New City) built by the French Protectorate), and the Quartier des Habous (the New Medina — the 1930s French colonial construction of a new medina in the traditional Moroccan style, built to house the rural migrants arriving in the industrial city).
Mosquée Hassan II (the mosque built by King Hassan II (1987–1993) on a promontory extending 21 hectares over the Atlantic Ocean: the most significant work of Islamic architecture built in the 20th century and the largest mosque in Africa (the prayer hall holds 25,000 worshippers, the esplanade outside 80,000)): the world's tallest minaret (210m — taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza (146.5m) and the Washington Monument (169m)): the minaret is topped by a laser that points toward Mecca (the green laser is visible 35km at sea). The retractable roof (the sliding roof that opens to the sky in fine weather — the mosque is the only mosque in the world with a retractable roof), the heated floor (the floors are heated to prevent cold feet during winter prayers), and the glass floor of the ablutions hall (through which the Atlantic Ocean is visible — the Islamic theological rationale: the Quran states that "His throne was on the water," and worshippers praying here are literally over the ocean). Guided tours (non-Muslims may not enter the prayer hall without a tour).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Corniche d'Ain Diab (the 7km Atlantic seafront boulevard stretching south of the Hassan II Mosque: the most important leisure and social zone of Casablanca: the beach clubs (the private beach clubs with swimming pools, sunbeds and restaurants — the public beach is crowded and not the best option), the seafood restaurants (the Casablanca seafood: the Atlantic tuna (the albacore tuna of the Moroccan Atlantic coast), the crevettes (the large Atlantic prawns), the calamars (the fresh squid), and the sea bass (loup de mer) grilled over charcoal — the finest Atlantic seafood in North Africa at its freshest), and the social life of the modern Casablanca middle class: the cafés, the juice bars and the evening promenade.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Ville Nouvelle (the New City — the European quarter of Casablanca built under the French Protectorate (1912–1956) by the urban planner Henri Prost (the plan for Casablanca that Prost drew in 1914 is the most important urban plan in the history of North Africa: the wide boulevards (the Boulevard Mohammed V — the main axis of the Ville Nouvelle, still largely intact with the original Art Deco facades)), the Place Mohammed V (the central square of the French city: the fountain (the original 1928 Prost fountain), the Prefecture (the 1930 Art Deco headquarters of the Casablanca administration), the Banque du Maroc and the Palais de Justice)), and the residential Art Deco neighborhoods (the apartment blocks of the 1930s and 1940s — the most intact collection of Streamline Moderne and Art Deco domestic architecture outside the Copacabana in Rio and Ocean Drive in Miami).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRick's Café (1 Rue Sidi Belyout — the reconstruction by the American entrepreneur Kathy Kriger (2004) of the fictional bar from the 1942 Casablanca film (which was entirely filmed in Hollywood with no Morocco scenes): the Moroccan riad interior (the courtyard, the arches, the Moorish plasterwork) dressed as "Rick's Café Américain" from the film: the piano player plays "As Time Goes By," the cocktails are named for characters in the film, and the menu combines Moroccan and international cuisine. The interior is actually beautiful in the riad tradition and the food is good — the tourist experience is cheerfully self-aware. A live jazz band performs nightly.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Old Medina of Casablanca (the original Moroccan city, pre-French: a small (50 hectares) and compact medina that is the most authentically commercial (as opposed to tourist-oriented) of any medina in Morocco: the Casablanca medina was never a major imperial city (Fes, Marrakech and Meknès were the imperial capitals — Casablanca was a small fishing port called Anfa), so the medina has fewer of the grand monuments of the other cities and more of the everyday Moroccan working-class commercial life: the fish market (the freshest Atlantic fish sold directly from the night's catch), the textile souk (the fabric merchants and the tailors who make djellabas (the traditional Moroccan hooded robe) to order in 24 hours), and the food souks (the fresh argan oil, the ras el hanout spice blends and the preserved lemons that are the foundations of Moroccan cooking).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideQuartier des Habous (the "New Medina" — the neighborhood built by the French colonial administration in the 1930s to house the rural Moroccan migrants arriving in the industrial city: the architects (the Service des Arts Indigènes under Henri Prost) built the neighborhood in the traditional Moroccan medina style (the narrow pedestrian streets, the covered souks, the traditional Moroccan house forms) but with French colonial infrastructure (straight streets, public squares, a courthouse and a post office in the Moorish Revival style)): the most charming shopping district in Casablanca: the Habous souks sell the Moroccan traditional crafts (the Fes zellige tiles, the cedar woodwork, the leather goods), the pastries (the ghoriba (the crumbly butter biscuits with sesame)), and the djellabas in the best quality and most reasonable prices in Casablanca.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVilla des Arts de Casablanca (Boulevard Brahim Roudani — the 1934 Art Deco villa of the French Protectorate period, converted in 1999 to the most important contemporary art gallery in Morocco (operated by the ONA Foundation): the most beautiful Art Deco building open to the public in Casablanca, with the rotating exhibitions of Moroccan and North African contemporary art, the original 1934 interior details (the wrought iron, the mosaic floors, the 30s-era bathroom fixtures), and the garden of Moroccan ceramics. Free admission for exhibitions.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePastilla (Bastilla — the most complex and celebrated dish in Moroccan cuisine: the large circular pie (35cm diameter) made from the thin warka pastry (like filo but more fragile — the sheets are applied individually by touching the pastry ball to a heated surface): the layers of warka filled with a mixture of shredded pigeon (or chicken in modern versions) slow-braised with saffron, onion, ginger and lemon, eggs scrambled into the pigeon broth, fried almonds crushed with cinnamon and sugar — the sweet-savoury combination that is characteristic of Andalusi/Moroccan cooking (the influence of Al-Andalus, the Islamic Iberian culture expelled from Spain in 1492, is central to the Moroccan court cuisine). The top of the pie is dusted with icing sugar and decorated with cinnamon in geometric patterns. Al Mounia (Rue du Prince Moulay Abdallah 95) is the finest traditional Moroccan restaurant in Casablanca.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePlace Mohammed V (the central administrative square of the French Protectorate city: the most complete ensemble of 1920s–1930s institutional architecture in Morocco: the Wilaya (Prefecture) building (1930 — the Art Deco administrative building with the Moorish-inspired upper level: the hybrid style of "Mauresque" — the combination of Art Deco and Moroccan architectural elements that is specific to the French Protectorate architecture of Morocco), the Banque du Maroc (the Moroccan central bank building in the same Mauresque style), the Palais de Justice (the courthouse, 1922 — the most purely French Beaux-Arts building in the ensemble), and the original Prost fountain (1928)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLa Sqala (Bd des Almohades — the 18th-century Portuguese bastion (the "sqala" — the gun platform on the old city wall) converted to a restaurant and garden in 2006: the most atmospheric setting for traditional Moroccan food in Casablanca: the garden within the old bastion walls (orange trees, jasmine, bougainvillea), and the menu of classic Moroccan dishes: the tagine (the slow-cooked stew in the earthenware conical pot — the most important cooking vessel in Morocco: the lamb tagine with prunes and almonds (the Marrakchi tagine), the chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives (the quintessential Fesi preparation), and the kefta tagine (the meatball tagine with egg)), the harira (the traditional Moroccan soup: the thick soup of tomato, lentils, chickpeas, fresh coriander, celery, and lamb, thickened with flour and lemon juice — the soup that is eaten at Iftar (the breaking of the Ramadan fast) throughout Morocco).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMarché Central (the covered market in the heart of the Ville Nouvelle — the Art Deco market building (1917, enlarged 1932): the most important food market in Casablanca: the fish market (the Atlantic fish stalls with the night's catch from the Casablanca and Mohammedia fishing fleets: the sardines (Morocco is the world's largest sardine exporter), the sole, the dorade (sea bream), the squid and the crevettes), and the produce market (the Moroccan spice stalls (the ras el hanout — the North African spice blend: the name means "head of the shop" in Arabic — the blend of the finest spices the merchant has to offer: typically including cinnamon, ginger, pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and rose petals, with the most elaborate versions containing 30+ spices), the preserved lemons, the argan oil and the saffron from Taliouine (the specific Moroccan Saharan saffron — the finest in the world, protected by a Geographical Indication)).
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