Mers Sultan or the discreet charm of a Casablanca neighborhood

In the pulsating heart of Casablanca, an urban gem shines with a special brilliance. Mers Sultan, this village-like district in the city, has just been crowned the second “coolest” district in the world by the British magazine “Time Out”. A distinction that will hardly surprise those who have had the chance to stroll through its streets steeped in history and culture.

Far from tourist clichés and marked circuits, Mers Sultan embodies a certain idea of ​​urban Morocco, both anchored in its traditions and resolutely turned towards the future. Here, there are no trendy cafes or trendy boutiques. The charm operates differently, more subtly, in a unique blend of authenticity and creativity.

The winding streets of Mers Sultan tell the story of a city in perpetual change. Modernist architecture from the 60s and 70s rubs shoulders with Art Deco buildings, silent witnesses to a bygone era. At the bend of a street, we discover the market designed by Jean François Zevaco, a veritable cathedral of everyday life where the smells of spices and the cries of merchants intertwine.

What strikes the visitor is this impression of traveling through time. At the Champs-Élysées café, time seems to have stopped. The regulars, cigarettes in their mouths, comment on the news around a “noss-noss”, this half-milk, half-espresso coffee that punctuates the day of Casablancans and all die-hard Moroccans. A few steps away, young artists are sketching the outlines of their next works, in a joyful linguistic mix where Arabic and Amazigh dialects rub shoulders with French and English.

Mers Sultan is also the refuge of creative youth who have made the neighborhood their playground. Budding filmmakers, daring graffiti artists and electro musicians meet at the Nevada Skate Park, the new epicenter of a booming urban culture . In the evening, the Atomic bar becomes the rallying point for a colorful crowd, where intellectuals, artists and night owls in search of authenticity rub shoulders.

To grasp the soul of Mers Sultan, you have to gain height. From the top of the 17th floor of the Liberté building, the Abdelwaheb Doukkali museum offers a breathtaking view of the city. It is here, facing the Casablanca skyline, that we become aware of the singularity of this district, an island of tranquility in a metropolis in perpetual movement.

Built between 1949 and 1951 by the Swiss architect Léonard René Morandi, the “La Liberté” building, better known under the name “17 floors”, is a building which has already achieved the standards of major architectural works. letters of nobility. That’s not all. Since its construction, the international press specializing in architecture has reported on it as “one of the tallest buildings on the entire African continent”, tells us Rabea Ridaoui, ex-president of Casa Mémoire and a keen connoisseur. of the History of Casablanca.

From its 17 floors and 78 meters height, it proudly projects its skyscraper aura over the entire city.

But the real secret of Mers Sultan perhaps lies in its simple and tasty gastronomy. At the Cité Maréchal Ameziane butcher, the liver sausage sandwich is an institution. In small neighborhood restaurants, you can enjoy authentic Moroccan cuisine, far from the glitter of tourist establishments.

At a time when so many cities are succumbing to a certain standardization, Mers Sultan cultivates its difference. It is a neighborhood that lives, that breathes, that evolves without ever losing its soul. A lesson in open-air urban planning, where modernity combines with the past to better understand the future.

As the sun sets over Casablanca, it is from the roof of the Washington Hotel that we can best contemplate the magic of Mers Sultan. In the golden light of dusk, the district is revealed in all its splendor, a living mosaic of a city in perpetual evolution. And we then understand why “Time Out” succumbed to the discreet charm of this corner of Casablanca, a true hidden treasure of the white city.