One of Morocco’s coastal mid-sized destinations, the “Windy City” is one of the country’s best non-dynastical destinations. Enjoying a financial boom in the 1990s, the former Portuguese bastion is now renowned for its wind sports, Gnaoua music, art and thuya wood.
Along the Southern Beach, re-enactors put on mock battle atop horseback.
I’ve been to the city twice but only stayed once for an extended visit. During that trip, I stayed in a great riyad in the small old medina, which is tiny but packed with original goods. The city is the only town near Morocco’s thuya trees; though exceedingly rare, the wood is the city’s top artisanal attraction, as more than half of the old medina’s tourist shops either manufacture or sell thuya products.
The northern view from the Portuguese Ramparts of the Old Medina.
Since the 1960s, the city has hosted a growing Gnaoua music scene that jelled well with the counter-culture artists such as Hendrix and the Stones who visited during that time. Gnaoua is a West African aspect of culture that incorporates elements of Sufism, alternative medicine and slavery into its most well-known facet today: reggae-style music. Each year, the Gnaoua festival is held for a weekend in June and a few months apart from the World Music Festival, attracting the most diverse group of music fans I’ve come across. I attended the festival this year and had a great time. What struck me most were the different nationalities present; I was expecting a fair amount of Europeans and West Africans from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, but the amount of the latter exceeded expectations. Nowhere else in Morocco (aside from Casablanca) have I seen such a representation of West African culture and society.
A Gnaoua band performs at one of the event's five stages, most of which were free to view.
Since the 1980s, the city’s art culture has sprung from essentially nowhere. Different from the artisanal works that can be found without deviation across the rest of the country, Essaouira’s old medina hosts at least four art galleries of original works from national and international artists. Between 500 – 1000 MAD apiece, they are more expensive than the common works but may be worth a visit to the city on their own merit.
One of the contemporary pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Art Damgaard.
Finally, the city’s “Sun and Surf” campaign has brought the city international acclaim in Europe since the 1990s. With at least three surf shops operating along the southern beach, everyday business is good because that wind never appears to stop.
Get to Essaouira by POV or combination train and bus ticket with a change in Marrakesh. Riyads are plenty in the old medina and hotels numerous on the coast. Like other cities, I used Trip Advisor and AirBnB to find good accommodations.
The beach was rather empty as the strong northerly winds blew away most tourists for the afternoon.
Get to Essaouira by POV or combination train and bus ticket with a change in Marrakesh. Riyads are plenty in the old medina and hotels numerous on the coast. Like other cities, I used Trip Advisor and AirBnB to find good accommodations.
