I have spent the last couple of days just wandering the streets of Casablanca, looking at all the buildings, and visiting a few more landmarks. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the city before I got here. I know it is the largest in Morocco, and that it is the economic capital, and a very busy port and popular cruise ship stop. I also knew of its colonial past, the French influence in terms of the architecture and that, fun fact, none of the famous film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall was actually filmed here.

In lots of respects it does look very much like other French cities that I have visited, but there are some very notable differences in the vast amount of trees here, particularly palm trees. My first impressions of the city arriving by bus were of so many trees, lining the streets and in the squares. It makes me feel very at home, as do the parks and squares with their fountains. I had a picnic in this park yesterday and it was lovely.

The Arab League Park is right next to the deconsecrated Sacred Heart Cathedral, a relic from the French days which is currently closed for renovation and will reopen as a cultural centre.

It emphasises the other very noticeable thing about Casablanca, and that is the number of beautiful white buildings, very in keeping with the name of the city, which means ‘white house’ in Spanish. This is both a blessing, as the buildings look lovely against the blue sky, and a curse.

As I have mentioned before in a post about architecture in Spain, there is a good reason why so many houses in these climates are painted yellow like mine. A sandy, dusty environment does not treat the paintwork kindly. You can see the contrast between those that have been repainted really clearly.

There is so much restoration going on here, like this hotel just up from mine. This clearly a focus for the government, as there are signs in most of the streets detailing the work being done.

The ones that haven’t been repainted are still beautiful but many look very sad.

It is also a very busy city, the traffic here is quite crazy and everyone loves to use their horns. There are so many pedestrians crossings, but no-one stops at them, so I have been crossing in large groups where I can, safety in numbers!

About 50% of the traffic seems to be taxis, there are two types in Morocco, grand and petit, and they are great as the petit taxis have a flat fare of about 80p. Another fun fact for you, I will check this out in the next three cities but so far each one has its own colours for the petit taxis. Agadir was orange, Essouria blue and Casablanca red. You can see three of them in this picture. Every third car seems to be a Renault Kangoo or some kind of MPV so Katy would feel very at home, but not sure I would want to drive in this city!

So it has been a very interesting city to visit. There are some really beautiful buildings here, but sadly lots that are just falling apart. There is a huge amount of work going on to restore things, but I would really love to have been able to visit the city in 1920 in its heyday. You can see that it must have been even more stunning. It is lovely now, but it also has a sense of being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work there is to do in keeping Casablanca beautiful.

I love the street signs here, which really sum up the dual heritage of the city. I have not seen as much of the Berber language here, it is mainly just French and Arabic, although a lot of people speak Spanish as well, at least basic phrases, so I am getting lots of practise in both languages.

By the time you read this I will have arrived in my fourth city. I am very interested to see how different that will be. Tangier has much more of a Spanish influence than French, partly due to its geography, so it will be really nice to see how that influences it.

I am so glad I’m getting to see so many aspects of the country, it is difficult when planning a trip to know what to include, but I feel as if I’ve got a good mix of locations. See you next time, from a hopefully sunny Tangier! Have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.