Things to see in Casablanca

Set on the edge of the Parc de la Ligue Arable, Casablanca’s largest park, this is one of several fine Christian places of worship that have survived since the end of the days of the French protectorate in 1956. Though European in style, this ornate edifice employs many Moroccan motifs. No longer used as a place of worship, its interior has been sadly neglected but is now undergoing restoration by the Moroccan government. Another Christian site worth seeing is the still-used Church of Notre Dame of Lourdes, with its outstanding stained glass, on Avenue Zerktouni, by the Ronde de L'Europe roundabout.

Accommodating 2,500 worshippers inside and another 80,000 in its courtyard, Casablanca’s Hassan II Mosque is a truly monumental complex right next to the sea. It covers a site of 9 hectares (22 acres), making it the world's second largest religious building after the main Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca. Commenced in 1980 and opened in 1993, but not set to be fully finished for several decades yet, it has been the inspired work of French architect Michel Pineau and some 35,000 Moroccan craftsmen. The amazingly ornate minaret is the world's tallest, standing 200m (656ft) high while two laser beams reach 30km (18.5 miles) towards Mecca. The vast prayer hall even has a sliding roof that can be open to the heavens.

The Old and New Medinas in Casablanca are the great new traditionally styled living spaces that sprang up as the city expanded rapidly in the early 20th century. Two of the gates of the Old Town walls still survive in the Old Medina, whose attractions include an 18th-century fortress, a jewellery market and the tomb of Sidi Allal el-Kairouani, who became the city's patron saint in 1350. The New Medina, also known as the Quartier Habous, was created in the 1930s in traditional Arabic style and has pleasant flower-bedecked and arcaded streets. Ornately carved stucco makes the nearby Palace Mahakma du Pacha a triumph of Arabic decoration.