If the Hollywood image of 'Casablanca' is important to you, prepare for a shock from Casablanca. The city is further away from Oriental romanticism than any other in Morocco, and Casablanca is a modern city - and beautiful in its own respect.

The centre of Casablanca is fairly impressive. It's brand modern, with big, lively boulevards, high, white, well-kept buildings. And it's clean and efficient. People visiting Casablanca as their first city, could easily end up hating this place: There are few things here confirming the newcomers conception on the Orient. But for people having visited other parts of Morocco first, Casablanca is good! The city is modern in a Moroccan way, and an excellent example of Moroccans capacity of taking charge of the future of their country.

But as soon as you step out of the impressive centre of town, dark clouds cover the realities of people here. Extreme poverty and prostitution only to be matched by Tangier （丹吉尔，摩洛哥北部港市） is what you'll find without even looking for it. No other place in the country displays bigger differences between the haves and the have-nots.

If anything in Casablanca should fit the Casablanca of Bergman and Bogart（影片《北非碟影》中的女主角英 格丽·褒曼和男主角亨弗瑞·包嘉）, it should be the old city. It's small, consisting mainly of smaller houses, which all seem to be from this century, and the alleyways（小巷） dominating in other old cities, are rarely found here. There is a good market here, but look around before you buy, shop keepers here know their skills. Some thousand people live here, and in one or two spots, true beauty occurs.

Wide boulevards 
Among the most visible aspects of Casablanca are the wide boulevards flanked by white, tall buildings. The streets run out as the leaves of a fan from the Place de Nations Unies. This place is the focal point of downtown Casablanca, and also the point where the modern town meets the medina.

Colony white
A walk around Casablanca will demonstrate clearly that Casablanca was the place that the French colonial authorities gave most attention. The old colonial centre of Casablanca is not small, and refreshingly beautiful. The buildings are of a French version of Arabo-Andalucian architecture, white with soft lines, and often plenty of details.

Corners do often give away the best examples, and happily, the buildings are most of the time in very good condition. The area to explore is south of Avenue des Forces Arms Royales, but of special interest is the Place des Nations Unies, which has the largest structures. Further east and south buildings are less impressive, but equally interesting.

Shopping 
Casablanca isn't really the place to go searching from shop to shop. The city has a laidback feeling to shopping, especially if you step out from the market zone of the medina. The commercial areas reminds you principally of Europe's.

But money isn't a problem. Casablanca is one of the better places in all of Morocco to pick up something nice and different.

Old city 
The old city of Casablanca is conveniently located - just off the main town square from where all avenues radiate, and near the sea. But as you enter, you will see that it is not all that old after all, that the houses here often have a form and size which would have made them natural elements in the "new" parts of many other Moroccan cities.

But still, it is very nice, even if it is surprisingly small. The best parts of the old city is made up of shopping areas, where all types of products are sold, and you should not either miss out on the less visited quarters - the areas where people live - where colours and shapes and curves brings you far away from elegance of downtown Casablanca. 

导读（帮助理解，并非汉英对照）：
　　走在卡萨布兰卡(Casablanca)市区街头，不自觉的就将这里同巴黎的旧城，上海、广州甚至武汉的法租界连接起来。树影婆娑的法国梧桐，小孩嬉戏老人聊天的弄堂的两个出口将一个又一个的街道串联起来。街道并不宽，但底层是相对的商店，人来人往的，增添了车水马龙的热闹。

　　闲适的摩洛哥男人在下午时分就已将街边的咖啡座挤得有些满起来，不经意地流露着这城市的节奏。

　　阿拉伯式茶壶里，装的是一种清凉的薄荷茶，是真正用薄荷叶子冲的茶，名字叫做Moroccan Whiskey，摩洛哥的大众饮料。

　　喝一口，清凉而且甘甜， 就像即将进入深秋的卡萨布兰卡。

　　有290多万人口的卡萨布兰卡是摩洛哥最大城市和工业中心，这里的城市规划、公共建筑和城市风貌，大多来自19世纪殖民地时期法国总督Marshal Lyautey的构想。

　　在法语中卡萨布兰卡是“白色屋子”之意，它的浪漫起源于好莱坞电影《北非谍影》中难分难舍的爱情，但看起来那只是活在外人心中的卡萨布兰卡，即使在电影曾拍摄实景的旧街市，也看不到任何与这部电影有关的东西。

　　不过这条阿拉伯式的旧街市Medina却是这个城中的特色，曲曲折折的小街两旁是排列众多的小店，路是石板铺砌，街市随着夜幕的降临越来越有活力，沿Rue Chakab Arsalane和Rue de Fes是最卡萨布兰卡最繁忙的购物区，也是当地人饮食消费的场所。

　　有全世界第二大清真寺之称的Hassan II清真寺是这个白色城市的骄傲，除此之外，这里可以游览的古迹并不多。

　　卡萨布兰卡是北非最西侧的一个海滨城市，从西班牙搭船只需要一小时航程就可抵达。虽然经过法国和西班牙40多年的殖民，但摩洛哥仍是一个充满回教色彩的国家，无论从哪个角度看去，都能看到清真寺的塔楼，面对着一片的汪洋。北非的空气中，弥漫的是阿拉伯、法国、葡萄牙和西班牙的混和味道。