|
|
Casablanca (Morocco)
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 |
|
发表于 2016-7-9 23:19:10