Like Castles in the Sand: Essaouira, Morocco

Like Castles in the Sand: Essaouira, Morocco

If you thought that Morocco was only a place for camels and sand, you must not have heard about Essaouira. This wind and kite surfer’s paradise is only one place you should stop during your trip in Morocco. For many addicted to this pristine beach town, it is their only stop!

There is a story that goes around Essaouira, Morocco, about how the ruins of former forts and castles on the beach were the inspiration for Jimi Hendrix’s famous song “Castles in the Sand.” Whether or not this story is true is highly debatable, but Jimi Hendrix was a big fan of the town of Essaouira, which he visited in the sixties during his travels of Morocco, prior to the arrival of another great music legend: Bob Marley. The citizens of the town remember both visits fondly, and celebrate both occurrences in Essaouira to this day with various music festivals throughout the year. The Wailers, the former group of Bob Marley, performed in Essaouira during the 2004 festival.

Jimi Hendrix was a big fan of the town of Essaouira, which he visited in the sixties during his travels of Morocco, prior to the arrival of another great music legend: Bob Marley

Essaouira is increasingly becoming seen as a regular tourist destination, but the small town still has a wonderful sense of the past, its place in the past, and its surroundings. Essaouira is certainly not as much of a “tourist trap” as say Marrakesh, and the town is a great place to look for local crafts, or to take a more relaxed pace in the middle of a multi-day or multi-week Moroccan tour. If you like hand crafts, the woodwork in Essaouira is famous as being one of the oldest artistic forms that has thrived in the town. Thuja wood is often used, and the town is considered the main center for wood carving and wood carvers in all of Morocco.

If handcrafts and local markets aren’t your thing, Essaouira is a port town that still brags of battlements and walls from a time when these things were actually necessary for defense. Although no longer in use, these leftover pieces of architecture allow fantastic views of the beaches and the sea that should not be missed on any Morocco itinerary. Essaouira is one of the calmest and most laid back tourist stops you may find while traveling through Morocco, and for many on an extended trip Essaouira is the perfect stop for several days or even a week to rest. While there are hotels available, there are also camp sites not far from the beach, depending on what your taste is.

As far as what there is to occupy your time in Essaouira, almost all the activities eventually come back to the beach. Essaouira has a long and beautiful beach, and since this is a port town, it goes without saying that this may be the best place during a Moroccan tour to get really fantastic sea food. The beach is not surprising considering that the Essaouira has often been referred to as the “jewel of the Atlantic.”

For the type of tourist activity that will get people’s attention back home, there are camel tours on the beach, and if you would like to venture inland to see the desert as part of your Moroccan adventures, they will guide you there, as well.

The other famous aspect of the beach is wind surfing. The winds blow in towards Essaouira constantly, and make the area a destination for wind surfers that is known world wide. If catching the waves is your sort of vacation, then Essaouira may very well be your favorite stop in all of Morocco! And of course, don’t forget the ruins of old castles and fortifications on the beach, that local legends still tie to the famous Jimi Hendrix song.

Rest and relaxation, or wind surfing and trekking. For either type of tourist, Essaouira has plenty to offer, and should be a mandatory stop on any tours of Morocco travel.


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Trekking Around Berkane and Saidia

Trekking Around Berkane and Saidia

Traveling to Morocco presents you with a number of different tours to take advantage of.  While planning your trip, you might consider what you are hoping for in a Morocco vacation or holiday. Here, we’ll talk about our active itineraries. Some questions we might ask you before venturing to Morocco include: Are you going trekking?  How long do you want to trek for each day?  Do you want to see forests or mountain summits? And, how many hours per day is right for you? You see, Morocco is full of all kinds of varied landscapes and topography. It’s best to have an idea of what and where you’d like to trek before going on a Morocco holiday.

The Rif Mountains are one of the most popular destinations in Morocco because they border the coastline near Chefchaouen.  You are able to visit the mountains while spending some of your days lying on a beach.  Two top cities in the Rifs are Nador and Oujda.  You can travel along the road between these two cities visiting various sites, getting some nice hikes in all along the way.

Taking a detour into Berkane–the birthplace of world famous and gold medalist miler Hicham El Guerrouj–will bring you to the Zegzel Gorge.  This gorge is built from limestone.  It’s not just any type of limestone, but a dark limestone that lies on a fault.  This fault is part of the Beni Snassen Mountains, which branch from the Rifs.  From Berkane you are able to reach Saidia which is a seaside resort town.  In the town you can enjoy many restaurants, beaches, and culture after you have trekked around the Rif Mountains.

Berkane is a small market town that sits just outside of the gorge.  There are orchards and vineyards creating some excellent wine for you to enjoy.  Hotels are also located in Berkane if you wish to spend the day there before moving on to Saidia.

Part of the gorge you will be trekking in Morocco is the Oued Zegzel, which formed due to the Moulouoya tributary.  The tributary runs south along Berkane and used to act as a limit for the Shereefian Empire.  If you are walking along this path it will be quite steep, but you may also travel to the trails in the gorge by car.

Before you reach the gorge on your custom Morocco holidays, Taforalt will await you.  Taforalt is a smaller village in the Rif Mountains.  It is a gearing up point for the trek to the gorge and Grotte du Chameau.  The Grotte du Chameau is a local cave of the area with quite a history.

You will hike 10 kilometers from Taforalt to reach the cavern which is filled with stalactites.  Many of them look remarkably like camels, which is how the cave got its name.  There are a number of different tunnels which lead off from the main cavern. These tunnels are largely unexplored, providing you with places to see that are not filled with tourists.  You should have your tour operator book a tour guide with you, though, if you are going to travel off the usual path for a visit.

Once through the cavern there is a picnic area for lunch.  You will be able to sit underneath the limestone buttresses surrounded by cedar trees before trekking through the rest of the gorge which is just beyond the cave formation. Walks, treks, day to multi day hikes await these largely unexplored areas of Morocco.


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Saïdia Tourism

Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion Group, the leading institutional investor in Morocco, and Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs Group, the European leader in local tourism and leisure activities, have signed a strategic partnership aimed at accompanying the development of major tourism resorts in Morocco, as planned under the Vision 2020 framework and based on two shared convictions:

- The development of Resorts and Tourism Residences integrating a comprehensive range of leisure activities provides clear value added in terms of tourism appeal, as a complement to hotel offerings.
- The high growth potential of Morocco generated by the development of Family and Leisure Resorts meets considerable demand from both national and international clients.
In addition to the Resort currently being developed in Marrakech, the two groups have decided to extend the scope of their partnership to other sites in the country, namely Taghazout and Saïdia.

Saïdia

The Saïdia resort located in the north-east of Morocco on the Mediterranean coast, currently has three five-star hotels, tourism residences, an 18-hole golf course, a Marina and a shopping centre.
In the Saïdia resort, the CDG/Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs partnership concerns a Pierre & Vacances village with 400 units due to be built in synergy and as a complement to other components and facilities at the heart of the station including a water park, a leisure park and a conference centre, which are to be developed in parallel by the CDG subsidiary, Société de Développement de Saïdia (SDS).


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