Casablanca

The centre keeps its art deco buildings from the nineteen twenties, with curved balconies and fine ironwork. The Hassan II mosque reaches out over the water, and part of its floor is glazed above the ocean. This is a working city first, a visiting one second.

Casablanca is not a place you visit, it is a place you pass through, and that is what makes it interesting. It is a working city, the largest in the country, and it makes no effort to please.

The centre keeps its art deco buildings from the twenties and thirties, curved balconies, fine ironwork, glass canopies. Most are lived in, a few are falling, and together they form one of the largest art deco districts in the world.

The Hassan II mosque reaches out over the ocean. Its minaret rises two hundred and ten metres, part of the floor is glazed above the water, and it can be visited, which is rare in Morocco.

The Habous quarter was drawn in the thirties as a modern medina. Its arcades hold booksellers, pastry shops open since 1930, and metalworkers who pierce brass with a chisel.

The central market opens at seven. You buy fish there and a restaurant opposite cooks it for you, for the price of the fish.