The upper Casbah — the Kalaa — sits at the very top of the hill, above the dense residential core of the old city. The original Berber settlement was here before the Arabs arrived in the 10th century, and the views down over the white rooftops to the bay and the Mediterranean horizon are exceptional.
The streets up here are narrower and quieter than the lower Casbah. Many houses are in various states of disrepair, but the bones of the medieval city are visible: monumental doorways, horseshoe arches, houses that lean over the alleys until the upper floors nearly touch. A local guide is genuinely useful in the upper Casbah — not for safety reasons but because half the interest is in the history that an informed guide can point out in passing.