36 hours in Casablanca

Men play petanque under a canopy of trees at the Parc de La Ligue Arabe. [Photo/Agencies]

Marrakesh and Fez bewitch travelers with their ancient customs, and Tangier and Essaouira with their counterculture exotica, but Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, is a cosmopolitan Atlantic port, an alluring blend of tradition and progressiveness. With Roman roots, French city planning and a Portuguese name (later changed to Spanish) that dates to the 16th century, the city retains a mid century elegance with modern touches, including a sleek tram system across its center. In the oldest part of town, wanderers can buy straw berries and eggs off wheeled carts, eat sandwiches fried on the spot outside the mosque, and engage with locals, who always seem willing to share their pathways through the city's history and geography. A short taxi ride away, visitors can indulge in a luxury shopping spree at Galeries Lafayette, watch a 3-D movie or peer into a three-story aquarium. Here's looking at you, kid.

Friday

12:00 PM

To market: Unlike the overflowing mazes in Fez and other Moroccan cities, Casablanca's central market is small and manageable. White-walled stalls with green clay tile roofs dotted with foliage make for all the Instagrammable back-grounds you'll ever need. Vendors sell produce, nuts and dates and, in one stand, argan oil, the traditional Moroccan elixir for most everything. Linger long enough and eventually you will see the vendors line up for the call to prayer, and then join them in a quick tagine lunch, served at outdoor tables.

3:00 PM

Juice fast: Cafes are traditionally the province of Moroccanmen, who linger over mint tea and strong coffee. The brightly colored Espace El Frutero juice bar, near the market, is a prime meeting spot for gaggles of young women, friends and students. Fruit and nuts hang from the ceiling in sacks, and you can custom-order a mixed fruit cocktail (about 20 dirhams, about $2.35 at 8.55 dirhams to the dollar).

5:00 PM

Visita Mosque: Completed in1993 after many years in construction, the Hassan II Mosque is among Africa's largest, with one of the world's tallest minarets to boot. Thanks to its location on the waterfront, and the laser atop the minaret that beams toward Mecca, it's one of Morocco's most striking buildings. It's also one of the only mosques that permits non-Muslim visitors into its halls. Take a taxi over at dusk to witness local couples strolling along the shore, snacking on garbanzos sprinkled with salt or fresh potato chips sold in paper cones from pushcarts (12 dirhams) in the mist. The airy plaza in front of the mosque will be dotted with families, the children treating it as a playground, tearing up and down on their scooters. The mosque is an imposing sight but also a welcoming one; ticketed tours are available daily, in several languages, at the entrance.

9:00 PM

Of all the gin joints: Sure, Rick's Cafe is a tourist destination, a pastiche that has nothing to do with the 1942 cinematic classic, which was filmed on a sound-stage in California. But it is a lovely pastiche, opened by a former American diplomat, with pristine traditional architecture - arched doorways and mosaic floors-and a Moroccan pianoman, Issam Chabaa, tinkling out medleys of the familiar As Time Goes By and Sinatra's My Way. (The movie also plays on a loop around the space.) The waiters in fezzes might be a bit much, but the lighting is sultry, and any hokiness is easily forgotten when you're cozied up at the bar for a well-mixed Negroni (about 115 dirhams).