Habous Quarter (New Medina)

The Habous Quarter, also called the New Medina, is a planned neighbourhood in Casablanca, Morocco, built in the 1920s and 1930s during the French protectorate. Designed to blend traditional Moroccan forms with modern urban planning, it features arcaded streets, whitewashed buildings with carved wood and ironwork, small courtyards and a central mosque, all around Rue Fkih El Gabbas. Visitors come to browse the shops selling Moroccan crafts, brass lanterns, leather slippers, caftans and carpets, and to taste pastries at the well-known sweet shops in the quarter's lanes, where almond, honey and sesame treats are sold by weight. The area also holds bookshops, olive and spice stalls, and the Mahkama du Pacha, a former court building decorated with plaster and carved cedar. The streets are calmer than the Old Medina, with fixed prices more common and sellers less insistent, so the quarter suits first-time visitors who want a gentler introduction to Moroccan shopping. A visit usually takes about two hours, and late morning gives the best balance between open shops and manageable crowds. Shops generally run from 09:00 to 19:00, and activity slows around Friday midday prayers. Good photo angles are the arcades with their repeating arches, the white lanes with painted shutters and the minaret seen over rooftops. Crowds are heaviest on weekends, when Casablanca families come to shop and eat, while weekday mornings are quiet. A petit taxi from downtown takes about 10 minutes and costs roughly 15 to 25 MAD. Visitors should compare prices between shops, ask before photographing stallholders, and carry cash, since small vendors rarely accept cards.