Duration of Jewish Heritage Tour: 9:00am - 5:00pm

Morocco Travel: Transportation in Mercedes Vito, Luxury Vehicle

Casablanca  Guide: Expert on Jewish Heritage, Architecture, Culture, History & the Arts. Guide is a Linguist, Fluent in 9 Languages including Hebrew, originally from Casablanca

Casablanca Jewish Heritage Sites: Jewish Synagogues, Jewish Mellah, Cemetery, Jewish Museum, Home of Rabbi Pinto

Casablanca Private Jewish Tour - Starting & Finishing Point: Your Hotel In Casablanca 

Casablanca Jewish Shore Excursion - Starting & Finishing Point: The Port of Casablanca

(Book a Casablanca Jewish Heritage Tour or Casablanca Shore Excursion by calling (800) 787-8806). Let us be your guide to Morocco Travel Guide.

Pick up at the Your Hotel or The Port in Casablanca at 9:00am.

Casablanca is one of the most famous cities visited by first time travelers to Morocco who are arriving by ship from at the Casablanca Port or staying at a hotel in Casablanca. Visiting the Jewish Heritage sites of Casablanca on a private one-day tour can serve as a rewarding way to discover Casablanca and the Jewish history of Morocco.

The 3,000 Casablancan Jews in Casablanca live outside the Mellah in the European city, where they worship in over 30 synagogues, eat in kosher restaurants, entertain themselves in community centers, and attend Jewish schools and social service centers. They worship at Temple Beth El, the largest synagogue and an important community center, seating 500 persons. The Jewish community of Casablanca also contributed to the construction of the Hassan II Mosque, the second largest in the world. Some Jews visit annually the Muslim shrine of Sidi Belyout, Casablanca's patron saint. Many Jews of Casablanca celebrate the hiloula of the saint Yahia Lakhdar in Ben Ahmed, about an hour south of Casablanca near the town of Settat.

►On this CasablancaJewish Heritage Tour you will start your morning off visiting Casablanca’s Jewish Sacred sites and then continue seeing the highlights of old Casablanca. The synagogues, cemeteries, monuments and communal institutions of Casablanca show how important the city has been to the Jewish community during the twentieth century.

Visit Temple Beth-El, the Jewish Synagogue in Casablanca. Beth-El, is considered the center piece of a once vibrant Jewish community. Its stained glass windows and other artistic elements, is what attracts tourists to this synagogue.

Ettedgui Synagogue:
Ettedgui Synagogue is well appointed in the Casablanca Medina. The house of worship is located alongside the El Mellah Museum where paintings and photographs are exhibited that retrace the history of Judaism in Morocco. It was one of a dozen synagogues that received funding for restoration and that King Mohammed VI personally attended for its celebratory reopening. The original founders, the Ettedgui family were once considered part of the bourgeois community of Casablanca. The land was registered in the cadastre 1873 and carried the legacy of the “Makhzen,” with the French protectorate welcoming the construction of the synagogue in 1920. It was partly destroyed in error, during the bombing of the allies in 1942. Ettedgui was then rebuilt in the 1980s with the complete reconstruction finalized as part of the rehabilitation project of the old medina of Casablanca launched by the Sovereign in 2010.  This synagogue is steeped in history and remains a symbol of openness and of peace between Moroccan communities.

The mellah of Casablanca is young by Moroccan standards, not much more than a century old. It assaults the senses in the evening, with a sea of women in brightly colored djellabas carrying and selling fruit and vegetables throughout the cramped, narrow streets.  While Jews no longer live in the mellah, kosher butchers are found in the old market, next to other butchers selling horse meat. The Jewish cemetery in the mellah is open and quiet, with well-kept white stone markers in French, Hebrew and Spanish. Once a year, Casablancans celebrate a hiloula, or prayer festival, at the tomb of the Jewish saint, Eliahou.

Visit the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca. 
The Museum of Moroccan Judaism of Casablanca is a museum of history and ethnography, created by the Jewish Community of Casablanca in 1997 with the support of the Foundation of Jewish-Moroccan Cultural Heritage. The Jewish Museum in Casablanca is tucked into a residential neighborhood and holds a treasure trove with it being the Arab region’s only Jewish Museum. It uses world-class standards of conservation for its national and international collections. The Museum of Moroccan Judaism presents religious, ethnographic and artistic objects that demonstrate the history, religion, traditions and daily life of Jews in the context of Moroccan civilization. 

The Jewish Museum in Casablanca covers an area of 700 square meters, is the first of its kind in the Arab world. It consists of:

► A large multipurpose room, used for exhibitions of painting, photography and sculpture

► Three other rooms, with windows containing exhibits on religious and family life (oil lamps, Torahs, Chanukah lamps, clothing, marriage contracts (ketubot) Torah covers… and exhibits on work life;

► Two rooms displaying complete Moroccan synagogues;

► A document library, a video library and a photo library.

► The Museum offers guided visits, sponsors seminars and conferences on Jewish-Moroccan history and culture, and organizes video and slide presentations. On special request, it organizes group visits in Arabic, French, English or Spanish.

The Jewish cemetery in the mellah is open and quiet, with well-kept white stone markers in French, Hebrew and Spanish. Once a year, Casablancans celebrate a hiloula, or prayer festival, at the tomb of the Jewish saint, Eliahou.

Lunch Options: Kosher Cuisine at the Casablanca Jewish Club - meet the local Jewish community, International or Moroccan Fare

Cercle de L’Alliance is one of the centers/buildings where Jews from Casablanca hang around. The bottom floor/lobby is where people sit around, smoke cigars or cigarettes and socialize. You will also find a small bar and a mid size restaurant on the same floor with great appetizers and outstanding food 

D.E.J. J. is a restaurant that primarily serves dairy, pizzas, salads and pastas. Meat is not served here.

La Truffe offers skewered chicken accompanied with sides of bread, salad, olives and pickles. It is the most reasonably priced kosher restaurant located in the downtown area of Casablanca across from the Medina.

A famous Piano Bar run by an American and named after the Movie "Casablanca.".

►After lunch visit the Mosque of Hassan II. Casablanca is home to the Hassan II Mosque, designed by the French architect Michel Pinseau. It is situated on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, which can be seen through a gigantic glass floor with room for 25,000 worshippers. Next visit the Hassan II Mosque.

►The Mosque of Hassan II's promontory offers lovely views overlooking Casa in the residential Afna quarter. After touring the Mosque, head over to the New Town of Casablanca also designed by the French architect Henri Prost for an hour of shopping. The main streets of the New Town (Ville Nouvelle in French) radiate south and east from Place des Nations Unies, where the main market of Anfa had been. The New Town you past in your morning journey is possibly the most impressive in Morocco. Former administrative buildings and modern hotels populate the area. Their style is a combination of Hispano- Mauresque and Art Deco styles.

►Continue a leisurely drive through Casablanca. Make sure you have a camera in hand to take pictures of the famous clock tower, art deco hotels, the eleven story Moretti apartment block and the high rise art deco buildings covered with loggias, columns, zellij tiles and geometric carvings on Boulevard Mohmmed V. Visit the famous residential blocks: the Glaoui, the Bessonneau and the Asayag. The Boulevard links Place des Nationes with the railway station and is the gateway to the central market. Continue a short way to the Avenue des Forces Royal, a commercial area that leads into the old medina. With the help of your guide, move easily through the labyrinth of narrow streets lined with jewelers, barbers and artisans. See the squala, a fortified 18th century bastion. Visit the nearby shrine containing the tomb of Sidi Allal el-Kairouant, Casa's first patron saint.

►End the day with a visit to Casablanca’s Habous Market and Local Casablanca cooperatives. Shop and Explore local crafts and woodwork traditions, leather and carpets.