Beni Mellal booming agricultural town

Morocco holidays Booming agricultural town, Beni Mellal is surrounded by a luxuriant oasis which runs on one of the hills of Dir, between the Middle Atlas and the vast plain of Tadla cereal. These are the major irrigation works thereof, made possible by the proximity of such immense bin el Ouidane, who favored the development of this huge orchard with beautiful orange succeed on the heights of beautiful olive groves flourish where fig, pomegranate and apricot.

The kasbah, built around 1688 under the reign of Moulay Ismail, has been amended several times. The center of the city, near the place where the market is held (Tuesday), you will be able to acquire hanbels, large blankets garish hues.
Beni-Mellal was known under the name Day. Next to Day, another small town was born: Soumaa. The Soumaa zawiya is founded by Sidi Ahmed Ibn Kassim Soumai in the sixteenth century. This zawiya had a big role in this region. The merger of these two towns gave Beni-Mellal current.
At the entrance of the city, a good road (follow the sign "tour") past the modern building of the province can do around the oasis (625 m) of Beni Mellal, which extends foot of Jebel Tassemit (2248 m). It passes near the source Vaucluse Ain Asserdoun (3.5 Km) around which were arranged charming gardens. From there, a small road goes to the Kasba Ras and Ain (1km), but nicely located in ruins; sweeping views of the city and its surroundings.

About Beni Mellal.

1 - Taghzirt (22 Km north-east by the CT1674) A 10 km from Beni Mellal is the village of Ait Said, established at the mouth of the ravine Foum el Anseur at the bottom of which flows a stream fed by six sources. Springing from cliffs of dizzying heights, they irrigate plantations hackberry, walnut, olive, fig, apricot, orange, banana, etc.. At the top of the cliff several artificial caves were prehistoric shelters. Very difficult to reach these caves have excited the popular imagination: the legend they contain treasures guarded by petrified characters.

Fichtala (about 14 km) is the seat of Zawiya. It was there in 1545 Marmol up Efza, the capital of Tadla. It is probably the Tefza mentioned by the Andalusian historian Leo Africanus, near which the saadien Ahmed el Arej defeated the Wattasids in 1536. We then joined Taghzirt an old bourgae with a kasbah.

2 - Dam and Lake bin el Ouidane (58 Km south by P24, the 1802 and S508A). Beni Mellal leaving the South, we quickly reached the first slopes of the Middle Atlas. A Oulad Moussa (11km), turn left onto 1802. From Ouaouizarth the road (S508A) along the Lake Bin el Ouidane formed by the impoundment of the Wadi el Abid. The rugged mountains of the High Atlas link first identify their walls red and brown the vast expanse of blue water. it is possible to swim from the tourist complex built on the north shore of the lake.

An area equal to that of Lake Annecy, the lake is closed to the west by the imposing dam of the same name. This high curved wall 130 m high and 290 m long, over which passes the road from Azilal Afourer, was built between 1948 and 1955 in a gorge aspect Jura. it feeds a power plant, and allows irrigation of the plain of Tadla. This is one of the most important works of Morocco. A few kilometers downstream is a second high dam, says Ait Ouarda.

Chefchaouen: A city in northern Morocco

Chefchaouen: A city in northern Morocco
It is a city in northwest Morocco nestled at the foot of jebels Kelaa and Meggou, which form the Jebel Ech Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains, the city has 42,000 inhabitants, capital of the province of the same name. It is located 600 m above sea level. The name of the city means in Amazigh Rif "horns" Achawen because mountain peaks overlooking the city and entourennt. It was founded in the year 876 of the Hegira, or in 1471 AD by Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami. The province of the same name, with 440,000 inhabitants, the population density is 101 inh. / Km ² and the area of ​​4350 km ².

Dakhla was founded in 1502 by Spanish settlers during the expansion of their Empire. The Spanish interest in Western Africa in desert coast of Sahara was the result of fishing activities carried out from the nearby Canary Islands by Spanish fishers and the Barbary pirates menace.
Spaniard fishers were seal fur traders and hunters, fishers and whalers in Sahara coast from Dakhla to Cabo Blanco from 1500 to present, extending by West coast of Africa to whaling humpback whales and whale calves, mostly in Cape Verde, and Guinea gulf in Annobon, São Tomé and Príncipe islands just to 1940. These fishing activities have had a negative impact on wildlife causing the disappearance or endangered of many species, it highlighting marine mammals and birds.
They established whaling stations with some cod fishing and trading. In 1881, a dock was anchored off the coast of the Río de Oro Peninsula to support the work of the Canarian fishing fleet.
However, it was not until 1884 that Spain refounded formally the watering place as Villa Cisneros, in the settlement dated in 1502 by papal bull. It was included in the enclaves conceded to the Spanish at east of the Azores islands. In 1884, the settlement was promoted by the Spanish Society of Africanists and funded by the government of Canovas del Castillo. The military and Spanish Arabist Emilio Bonelli recognized the coast between Cape Bojador and Cabo Blanco, founding three settlements in the Saharan coast: one in Villa Cisneros in honor of cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, another in Cabo Blanco for seal hunting, which gave the name of Medina Gatell, and another in Angra de Cintra with the name of Puerto Badia, in honor of the Arabist and adventurer Domingo Badia. Bonelli got the native inhabitants of the peninsula de Río de Oro signed an agreement which placing them under the protection of Spain. Thanks to the presence of the three seatlements in December that year The Spanish government put in communication of the Collonial Powers assembled at the Berlin conference, which was adjudged possession of the territory lying between Cape Bojador and Blanco.
During the colonial period, the Spanish authorities made Dakhla the capital of the province of Río de Oro, one of the two regions of what was known as Spanish Sahara. They built a military fortress and a modern Catholic church, both of which remain points of interest for visitors to the city. A prison camp also existed here during the Spanish Civil War, at which writers such as Pedro García Cabrera were imprisoned.
During the 1960s, the Francoist dictatorship also built here one of the three paved airports in Western Sahara at Dakhla Airport. Between 1975 and 1979, Dakhla was the province capital of the Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya, as Mauritania annexed portion of Western Sahara. Dakhla Airport is used as public airport and by the Royal Air Maroc. The 3 km. long runway can receive a Boeing 737 or smaller planes. The passenger terminal covers 670 m² and is capable to handle up to 55,000 passenger/year.

Asilah city..Morocco holidaysin

Asilah city..Morocco holidaysin
 Asilah city  is famous for its long sandy beaches. Whether it is one that is close to the city center, or of Rmilat, 4 km from the city.
Walks on the ledge at the edge of the sea remains very popular and restaurants offering quality fish abound. Today, sports activities and develop a new marina will soon be ready to receive yachts worldwide. It is already possible to fishing. Similarly, the vast expanse of beach is perfect for enjoying long walks, horse or camel.

Asilah Morocco, this small trading town, over 3,600 years old, is situated on the northwest tip of Morocco. Until 1978 the town was deteriorating behind the ancient defensive walls that still enclose it. That situation was soon changed by the ideas of one man, Mohammed Benaissa, by his belief in culture as an invaluable resource and his dreams for his hometown. Through the efforts of Benaissa and his colleague, another local resident, Mohammed Melehi.



The annual cultural festival of Asilah was created to fund the rehabilitation of the town, an effort continuing today. The rehabilitation project is heavily intertwined with the creation of the festival and the story of the two men. In 1989 the town won an Aga Khan Award for its rehabilitation efforts. Asilah has been granted a whole new life but raises issues related to the continuing development of the town and its inhabitants.

Asilah is located 42 km southeast of the town of Tangier on the Atlantic coast. The town is completely surrounded by Portuguese defensive walls that were erected in the 15th century. (Images 1 & 2) There are extensive beaches and a natural harbor on the northwest side of the town. Farmlands surround the town and there are no factories in the immediate area., to the north of Asilah beach resorts and to the southeast lie squatter settlements called mixik. This northern Atlantic coastal area falls into the Mediterranean climate zone bringing mild wet winters and dry warm summers. The presence of the Atlantic creates more rainfall than in the other Mediterranean areas.

Asilah's history stretches back to around 1500 BC, since then it has changed hands several times. The significance and morphology of the town is linked to its natural harbor. The Phoenicians called it Silis or Zilis and used the town mainly as a trading post. Being at a favorable location at the crossroads between the East and West, it was later occupied by the Carthaginians, Byzantines, and the Romans. In the 9th century it was occupied by the Arabs and the Normans.

In 1471, Asilah was occupied by the Portuguese who built the town's fortifications. It was voluntarily returned to Morocco in 1550, but was absorbed by the Spanish as they took control of Portugal in the late 16th century. In 1692 the town was recaptured by the Moroccans under the leadership of Moulay Ismail. In the 19th and 20th centuries Asilah was a base for piracy. In 1911 Spain took the northern portion of Morocco as their protectorate which included Asilah. The country finally gained its independence in 1956.