I have wanted to return to Essouira for several years. On my previous visit, it had all the peace and charm and laid-back grace of a mellow, former hippie enclave. Nowadays, it's developed some - there are explosions of condo construction - but the vibe remains the same. Essaouira is known for its annual Gnaoua music festival in June (click here for a sample). This music has a sub-saharan undertone with a reggae backbeat and is unlike music elsewhere in Morocco. The village just down the coast, Diabat, was once a month-long refuge of Jimi Hendrix (still featured on the Gnaoua festival logo). It's also one of the worlds pre-eminent wind-surfing locations, known for steady knots in the afternoon, and as such has recently also become a bit of a kite-surfing mecca.
But it's much more. It's been the seat of a number of films, including Orson Welles' Othello there, and last year, Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, which I might have to rent. Besides facing due west and enjoying a daily sunset extravaganza, the city is built on old Portuguese ramparts (Skala de la Ville or du Port), still lined with branss cannons. The city has also realized it's beach potential, and cleared a wide swath of beach for tourism. The beach plaza has soccer fields, basketball courts, a few food stalls, and of course, wind- and kite-surfing rental shops.
Just a bit further south, there are remains of an old Portuguese castle that are reachable during the morning's low tide. Just south of that are windswept sand dunes, hills, and scrub brush leading down the coast to rocky cliffs and some rubble-and beach coastline. It is one of my favorite cities in Morocco. Even still.
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