Know what to see, what to visit and what to do when traveling to Casablanca

Casablanca economic and financial capital of Morocco, Casablanca is the most populated city in the country, with more than five million inhabitants. On the eastern coast of Morocco, and bathed by the Atlantic, Casablanca is a city that lives turned over to the sea.

Dar el Beida is the name it received in the 18th century, when Sultan Mohamed Ben Abadia founded the first permanent population nucleus. A mosque, a school and a hamman, were the first buildings of the city, the basic pillars necessary to live in harmony, and around which the city did not stop growing until it became the great city that is today.

Information about Casablanca

The Hassan II Mosque, the United Nations Square, the district of Anfa, the Corniche ... are landmarks of this wonderful city; Its shops, restaurants, private club, etc, add a compendium of attractions that make Casablanca a cosmopolitan city.

Even so, there are still some absent-minded tourists, who are still looking for the protagonists of the film of the same name by Michael Curtiz in the city, because not many know, that Casablanca was filmed with scenery painted and recreated on set, studios in Florida , And that not one of the images was filmed in Morocco.

Either way, we can wander the imagination and sit on any terrace of the Corniche with a drink in hand, wait for Ilsa and Rick to appear, while it sounds in the background "As time goes by".

What to do

Casablanca has three great ways of understanding one, urbanite, large city, business, chaotic traffic, haste, etc, another by the culture itself and by the idiosyncrasy of its people and the other by the cecania of the sea.

Marking initially the urban form and of great city, we can not leave to see and to visit, in the commercial and financial center of the city the twin towers, called: Twin Center and designed by the Architect Ricardo Bofill Levi, both measure 115 meters of Height and have 28 floors, are completely identical, and were built in 1998.

In one of them we can find one of the most expensive and best located hotels of the city, the Kenzi Tower Hotel, from which we can not fail to visit its restaurant / bar, on one of the last floors, with fascinating views of the city .

At the foot of the Twins, we have the crossing of two great arteries of the city, the so-called Mohamed Zerktouni Avenue and Al Massira Al Khadra Avenue, full of the best boutiques in Casablanca.

At the back of the Twins one of the most popular neighborhoods of Casablanca, the so-called Maarif neighborhood, a neighborhood of small streets, perfectly reticular and where life and commerce are in the streets, you can not go here without visiting his famous Market, small, charming, charming and worthy of a must stop, next to one of the thousands of mosques or mosquées, called El-Andalous, also with its charm and green and white colors.

The other way of seeing the city is from the point of view of its religion and way of understanding life, in this sense, all mosques or mosques, are polarized or buried, by the great, imposing and majestic Mosque of Hassan II .

Located on Boulevard Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah (in the direction of Aïn Diab) is the tallest temple in the world (the 200 m minaret lasers can be seen from several kilometers), and is the second largest (after the mosque of La Mecca).

 

This mosque is built partly on land gained to the sea, this is because, according to the Koran, the chair of God is partly on the water.

 

It is capable of hosting 105,000 believers (80,000 in the outer courtyard and 25,000 in the inner prayer room).

 

It is a must visit to Casablanca. The entrance costs 120 dirhams and only one-hour tours are offered. The visit is done in your language, there is an hourly visit from nine in the morning, and the last visit is at 3 in the afternoon.

 

The national sport par excellence after football, is the contemplation from any cafeteria with a good mint tea, to see the day or life pass before our eyes, according to the time available.

Another must-see in Casablanca is the two malls located on the edge of the sea, one very close to the great mosque, and recently terminated called Anfa Place, designed by the British Architect Norman Foster, in front of it we can see a beautiful Saudi mosque .

The other, and older, but more impressive, we find also at the edge of the sea, a few miles further south, the so-called Morocco Mall and we just have to say that it is the largest shopping center in Africa !!

Between the two shopping centers and always at the foot of the beach, we have the so-called Corniche, a route full of social clubs, with pools only for members, restaurants, bars, gyms and that attracts during the summer season the whole nightlife of the city, With bars, pubs, discos, etc., all by the sea.

It is worth to visit it, the whole city is there. In the morning and throughout the year this route is used by thousands of people practicing running or just to walk by the sea.

Another curious place to visit is the beach morabito, a construction made in honor of Abdelhmane, an important person of the area, above a few isolated stones in the middle of the sea, whose access was possible only at low tide, this place Later it has had smaller buildings around, so due to this, it has had to make a bridge for access to the people who live there with a usual character, a curious place without a doubt.

We take a jump into the interior of the city, and we have the so-called medina, in my point of view, one of the worst I've seen, you can call attention if you never visited one, but a little more, one more of the many Any Arab city and not at all for a city like Casablanca.

Another must-see is The Habous neighborhood, also called the new medina, an eminently touristy place, but pretty enough to see, where the traditional life of people and craftsmen is mixed with one of the most touristic parts of the city.

We can not fail to visit all its corners, the famous courtyard of the olives, full of aromas and color, and climbing at the end almost, we find a large square where you can buy camel meat at street markets and taste it at any Of the street vendors, all this, between fumes of grills, trucks unloading meats, children playing the ball, tourists and some cow blood on the ground, this is Morocco.

 

Next to the Habous neighborhood is the Royal Palace of Casablanca.

There are plenty of restaurants and bars in the city but the two most famous restaurants in the city and one of them is The Rick's café and Sqala restaurant, the latter on the ancient walls that protected the city, traditional Moroccan food, With a very good enclave and a very nice patio, totally recommended.

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