The port of MOHAMMEDIA has a dual identity. As the site of Morocco's main oil refineries, and the base of its petrochemical industry, it's an important industrial and commercial city, with a population of some 130,000. Yet it's also a big-name resort - a holiday playground for Casablanca - with one of the best beaches on the Atlantic, a racecourse, the Ibn Batouta yacht marina and the Mohammedia Royal Golf Club (tel 02/332 4656, fax 332 1102) where the game was originally played in the sand in the 1920s, before a Frenchman, Pierre Uruguayen, shaped the present eighteen holes.

 

These two faces of the city - tourism and industry - are kept quite distinct, with the latter contained in a zone to the southwest of the city centre and beach. In summer, the city's population is given a huge boost by Moroccan tourists, mainly from Casa, who camp by the beach in what is called Mohammedia-Est : a sequence of tented villages that stretch northeast towards Port Blondin and Mansouria. For foreign visitors, there is perhaps less to tempt a stay. Despite a longish history as a trading port, this was still a small village at the turn of the twentieth century and the city has little in the way of monuments of "old Morocco". The only sight to speak of is a modern building, the Erradouane Mosque , which with its elegant minaret has become a landmark of Mohammedia since it was inaugurated in March, 1991.

Still, Mohammedia makes a very pleasant stopover, with its friendly, easy-going atmosphere, and a fine selection of restaurants. If you are flying in or out of Casablanca, you could do a lot worse than spend a first or last night here; it's only 20 minutes by train from Casa and there are a dozen or so trains a day each way. In July, it may be worth a special trip, too, for the week-long Mohammedia Festival , which encompasses all kinds of cultural activities, craft exhibitions, a fantasia , cycling races and a marathon.