Alhobous Souk in Casablanca
One week ago, I returned from a trip to Casablanca & Marrakech in Morocco. I must say Marrakech is a Must-see city. I fell in love with the country and its people & I want to visit them again. The country is Green & beautiful and the people are kind. Honestly, I’ve always heard some awful stories about the people and what I saw was Exactly the opposite. Out of all Middle Eastern countries I had visited, they were the most sincere and kindest people I had ever met. My family think I was bewitched. 😛 I really can’t stop talking about how beautiful the country was & how kind the people were.
Alhobous Souk in Casablanca
Anyways, Today’s post is about Old Souks, and shopping areas in Casablanca. First a little introduction about Casablanca. Casablanca is called Dar al-Bida (دار البيضاء) because all of their buildings and houses are painted WHITE while in Marrakech the houses & buildings are painted ORANGE. Anyway I went to three of their old souks which are Alhobous (الحبوس), Qayseriya (قيصرية) & Bab Marrakech (باب مراكش). All of the streets in those souks are very narrow & old. It’s like walking back in time. You can feel the culture and Moroccan heritage. Most of the streets are pedestrian meaning no cars can get in so wear your most comfortable shoes before going there. The souks sell traditional Moroccan Clothing men & female, spices, teapots, perfumes, etc. Basically, anything that you can think of as Moroccan is sold over there.
Bab Marrakech Old Souk in Casablanca
The shops in AlHobous Souk sell second-quality items while Bab Marrakech & Qayseriya sell first-quality items. If you are going there, don’t accept their price as it is… try to reduce it by 1/3 or sometimes 1/2. When they see you are not from Morocco, they end to jack up the prices by double. I was really bad at lowering the prices. Most of the times, I bought the stuff over priced. 😛
Alhobous Souk in Casablanca
As I was looking for traditional Moroccan women’s clothing. I had to learn the names of women’s clothing. The dress with the attached hood is Jelabah (جلابه), the dress with the belt (قفطان) & finally the regular dress with no attached hood or belt is Qandorah (قندورة). The shops really don’t have a standard size or length so I suggest trying the clothes because nothing matches in those old souks. 😛
Alhobous Souk in Casablanca
Out of those three souks, the most crowded was Qaysariya. They sell basically everything you can think of. You can even buy the sewing stuff (كلف الخياطة) and do your own Qaftan or Jelabah in Kuwait. Go in the morning because after 5pm, it is soooo crowded. You have to fight your way in. You can find more mens’s traditional clothing in Alhobous as they have tailors there & ready-made clothes.
If you are looking for expensive women’s traditional clothing (15okd-1500kd), there are shops in Casablanca Twin Tower Center.
The aquarium in Morocco Mall in Casablanca
For modern European shops including Boutiques such as Channel, Fendi, Gucci, etc. and American shops, visit the Morocco Mall. I believe it is the largest in Africa. They have a small aquarium there where you can pay to get into an elevator inside the aquarium. I tried it. I didn’t find it worth the queue or the money. There are cafes outdoors where you can view the dancing fountains.
And Yep, It’s real …They have Zanga elKuwait in Casablanca (شارع الكويت)
Zanga Kuwait- زنقة الكويت
We couldn’t resist so we stopped to a picture of it 😛
😛 مغرب ميزيانة بالزف يعني مغرب وايد حلوة
Going to post more about the trip. Stay Tuned! 🙂
