Day trip to Essaouira, the former Mogador built on a rocky peninsula, with its ramparts in vigil on the ocean, its medina in white and blue tones, its busy port and its long sandy beaches.

The history of Essaouira dates back to the 8th century BC. The Phoenicians stopped there on the road of the equator. The real founder of the city was the Alaouite sultan Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, who entrusted the construction to Theodore Cornut, architect and student of Vauban Essaouira is now a nice little fishing port very lively at the arrival of the boats where sardines and crustaceans are sold at the auction. On the docks, fishermen repair the red nets.

Enjoy the sardine grilled outdoors in the harbor’s small restaurants, then discover the Sqala du Port, a crenellated bastion built to protect the harbor and the city. It consists of two fortified wings behind the Navy gate. Leaving the port Sqala, enter Moulay Hassan square. Discover the kasbah, district surrounded by ramparts with foundations anchored in the rock. Walk along the ramparts taking the street that leads to the Sqala of the Kasbah, where the famous guns of Essaouira line up. This place was chosen by Orson Welles to turn the exterior sets of his Othello.

At the heart of the Kasbah, the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions is the mirror and the collective memory of the province of Essaouira. You will discover the ritual or profane musical instruments of the Aissaoua, Hamadcha and Gnaoua brotherhoods. Every year in June, the world-renowned Gnaoua Festival of Essaouira.