This White House (not that one)

My associations with Casablanca have mostly been with the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I had no idea that the name of the city in Morocco has to do with conquest and settlement. The name Casablanca means white house and you'll see that most of the buildings are white. A bit about Morocco and more over the next couple of weeks. Morocco has both Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, is very close to Europe (Spain) and of course, is in the north of Africa. So it has feet in many worlds. It has seen conquest from the Phoenicians, Romans, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Arabs. Each has left their mark.

Casablanca is the largest city and is pushing its way to modernity. Traffic is almost as bad as in Bangkok so will be glad to move on to quieter places.

The most famous scenes in the movie take place in Rick's Cafe which only existed as a stage set in Hollywood, but nevertheless there is a Rick's Cafe with not especially good food frequented only by tourists. In this picture note that it is part of the outer wall of the Medina.

This is the entrance to the Medina, a walled area of the city that can be found in every city. This is not a Souk/Shuk (marketplace) but an active neighborhood with homes, services, schools, and places of worship. This tower at the entrance is from the 12th century. Casablanca was settled first by Berbers (more on this later) and by the 7th century the city was growing

Turning around from the entrance to the medina you can see (also very white) some of the newer section of the city. When I mean newer we are looking at buildings from 18th and 19th century to the present. Now let's look inside the medina.

What you would expect to see in the horseshoe shaped arch and the detail pattern work that we'll see a lot of. In the center background you can see the minaret for a mosque. In Morocco it seems, mosques only have one minaret unlike in other countries where there are two or more.

Walking in the medina you can see new wooden shutters and lattice work put up by the city in an attempt to make the medina in Casablanca more "authentic". The wood appears to be pine unlike the cedar wood of old so will not be long lasting.

A church inside the medina dating from the 19th century. Christianity has never had a large presence in the city except when the Portuguese occupied and before them the Byzantines. This church is now turned into a cultural center. Europeans are coming back to Casablanca so the Christian community is growing to some degree. There is very little adornment on this building to indicate that it ever was a church.

There is also a synagogue inside the medina which at one time had a sizable Jewish community (more on that later). This one has been recently renovated and turned into a museum. When it was a synagogue it was called Tifferet Israel. It still retains some decorative elements but synagogues are always understated to keep a low profile.

The only religious institution that is still active within the medina is the mosque that you can identify here. You should also notice the green tile work, this can be seen everywhere from important buildings to the tops of electrical boxes.

The former entrance to the mosque, not renovated to yet again another cultural center.

The bastion walls (kasbah) has cannons pointing out to the sea. These fortifications date to the 18th century.

Entrance into the medina from the fortifications, also called the squala. Terms like medina, kasbah, and squala will appear many times in these posts from Morocco.