Morocco
Morocco facts & history
in brief
Casablanca
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.
Casablanca (The Arabic name pronounced Dar-al-Baida)
is a city in western Morocco with an estimated population
of 3.5 million.
Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Casablanca is Morocco's
biggest city and chief port, and is thus considered
the economic capital, although Morocco's official capital
and seat of government is Rabat.
Casablanca enjoys and exploits it to some extent (The
movie poster can be seen many shops, streets, hotels
etc.) enormous fame due to the the old classic name
by the same name*.
Casablanca was founded as "Casa Branca" in 1575
by the Portuguese, who had destroyed the town
of Anfa located at the same site in 1515.
The Portuguese eventually abandoned the site in 1755
after increasing attacks from surrounding Muslim tribes.
In the 19th century, the area's population began to
grow considerably as shipping traffic increased.
Casablanca was an important strategic port during World
War II and hosted the Anglo-American Summit in 1943.
In recent years Casablanca has focused on the tourist
industry, though recent terrorist attacks have hampered
to full fill it's potential.
In 1958, Casablanca hosted a round of the Formula One
world championship at the Ain-Diab circuit.
The city is served by Mohammed V International Airport
and its port is one of the largest artificial ports
in the world.
Casablanca is home to the Hassan II Mosque, the largest
in the world.
Its minaret is also the world's tallest at 210 meters.
It was built for former Moroccan King Hassan II's 60th
birthday and was finished in 1993.
External links
Casablanca City
(http://www.casablanca-city.com/)
* Casablanca, the 1942 film.
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.
The movie is set during World War II in the Vichy-controlled
Moroccan city.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and stars Humphrey
Bogart as Rick and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa.
It focuses on Rick's conflict between, in the words
of one character, love and virtue: he must choose between
his love for Ilsa and his need to do the right thing
by helping her husband - Resistance hero Viktor László
- to escape from Casablanca and continue his fight against
the Nazis.
The film was an immediate hit, and it has remained consistently
popular ever since.
Critics have praised the charismatic performances of
Bogart and Bergman, the chemistry between the two leads,
the depth of characterisation, the taut direction, the
witty screenplay and the emotional impact of the work
as a whole.
Click
to enlarge
The main characters: from left to right Rick Blaine,
Captain Renault, Viktor László and Ilsa
Lund.
This information was current & correct December 2004.
Personally, I found Casablanca too big, too disorganised
and neglected, in marked contrast to Rabat or Marrakech.
Here I would like to thank the very
helpful, - exceptionally helpful - person at Le Royal
Mansour Meridien Hotel, at Casa Port (Casablanca).
His time spent with us and his help with our problems,
even knowing we were not guest at the hotel was invaluable
and greatly appreciated.
We would like to recommend this hotel to everybody,
Hui Chin and I feel sorry that it is a bit out of our
range.
It was a Sunday, most shops and offices were closed,
and this kind man rang around to find for us a ticket
office open at the Airport, selling tickets to Bamako, Mali,
where we wanted to go urgently - as soon as
possible or sooner.
This kind man also told us, that there is a direct train
from the nearby station, costing a fraction of hiring a
Taxi to the Airport more than thirty odd kilometres away.
List of photo
pages in my Morocco series.
Casablanca
Marrakesh or Marrakech
Morocco buses
Morocco trains
Royal Mansour Meridien Hotel, Casablanca
Rabat
Tangier
Some of my photos
taken in Casablanca (Click for an enlargement)
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Casablanca. |
Casablanca. |
Casablanca. |
Casablanca. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Casablanca. |
Casablanca. |
Casablanca. |
Hui Chin@email. |
Site
Index
Back to Top
Photos Index
Thanks for coming, I hope you
have enjoyed it, will recommend
it to your friends, and will come
back later to see my site developing
and expanding.
I'm trying to make my pages
enjoyable and trouble free for everyone,
please let me know of any mistakes
or trouble with links, so I can
fix any problem as soon as possible.
These pages are best viewed with monitor
resolution set at 640x480 and kept simple
on purpose so everyone can enjoy them
across all media and platforms.
Thank you.
Webmaster
|
