Casablanca Region: El Jadida and the Portuguese Cistern, the Mazagan Coastal Drive, the Oualidia Oyster Lagoon, and the Atlantic Coast South of Casablanca
The Casablanca region route covers El Jadida as the UNESCO Portuguese colonial city with the extraordinary cistern, the Mazagan coastal fortress heritage, the scenic Atlantic coastal drive south of Casablanca, the Oualidia lagoon as the finest oyster production site in Morocco, and the Atlantic Coast culinary tradition.
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El Jadida: The UNESCO Portuguese Fortified City
El Jadida (Portuguese: Mazagan), the Atlantic coast city 95 kilometers south of Casablanca, is the most completely preserved single Portuguese colonial fortification in Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004. The Portuguese built Mazagan in 1502 as the most important Atlantic Morocco trading post with the bastion fortification, the Gothic church, the administrative buildings, and the underground cistern in the most militarily advanced single colonial defensive architecture in 16th century Atlantic Africa. The medina within the Portuguese walls is the most unusual single Moroccan medina in existing within a complete European Renaissance military fortification.
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The El Jadida Cistern: The Gothic Underwater Room
The El Jadida Portuguese cistern, built in 1514 as the water storage system for the fortified city and discovered by accident in the 19th century by the Moroccan Jewish community who removed the blocking wall to use it as a synagogue, is the most dramatically beautiful single underground space in Morocco with the Gothic vaulted ceiling on the 25 columns reflected in the shallow film of water that permanently covers the cistern floor. The Orson Welles Othello film used the cistern as the location for the murder scene and the Welles photograph of the cistern is the most reproduced single image of the El Jadida heritage in international film culture.
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Oualidia Lagoon: The Morocco Oyster Capital
Oualidia, the Atlantic coast lagoon 78 kilometers south of El Jadida, is the most important single oyster production site in Morocco and the finest seafood dining destination on the Moroccan Atlantic coast with the lagoon oyster farms producing the plumpest single Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in Morocco from the Atlantic ocean current water filtered through the 5-kilometer sheltered lagoon. The Oualidia oyster eaten directly from the shell at the lagoon-side shacks with the lemon juice and the brown bread is the most directly sourced single seafood experience available in Morocco and the culinary destination that most completely justifies the 2-hour drive south from Casablanca.
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Atlantic Coastal Drive: Casablanca to Oualidia
The Atlantic coastal drive from Casablanca south through Azemmour, El Jadida, and Oualidia follows the most picturesque single Atlantic Morocco coast with the argan tree orchards, the Azemmour rampart medina perched above the Oum er-Rbia river mouth, the Portuguese fortification walls of El Jadida, and the purple lagoon at Oualidia creating the most varied single coastal landscape within a 2-hour drive of a major Moroccan city. The road cuisine of the Atlantic coast includes the freshly caught sardines at the roadside grill stands between Casablanca and El Jadida.
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Azemmour: The Rampart Medina
Azemmour, the medina city at the Oum er-Rbia river mouth 85 kilometers south of Casablanca, is the least visited single UNESCO-heritage medina in Morocco with the most completely preserved single Alaouite rampart wall circuit and the most atmospheric blue-washed Andalusian houses within the rampart that most closely resembles the Chefchaouen blue aesthetic outside the Rif mountain region. The Azemmour medina and the Oum er-Rbia river fishing boat community is the most authentically working-class single Atlantic coastal medina in Morocco and the destination most frequently cited by the experienced Morocco traveler as the most rewarding single undiscovered destination on the Atlantic coast.
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Casablanca Day Trip Circuit: The Atlantic South
The Casablanca Atlantic south day trip circuit - Azemmour rampart medina (1.5 hours drive, 1 hour visit), El Jadida Portuguese fortification and cistern (2 hours visit), and Oualidia oyster lunch at the lagoon (1 hour) before the 2-hour return - is the most completely organized single cultural and culinary day circuit accessible from any major Moroccan city. The total driving distance from Casablanca to Oualidia and return is 310 kilometers and the circuit is the single most rewarding day trip from Casablanca for the visitor who has already seen the Hassan II Mosque and the Art Deco commercial district.