El Jadida

From Essaouira I headed north up the coast. I had my flight booked to Istanbul, and ten days to kill before leaving for Turkey. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fill all those days given what there was to see between Essaouira and Casablanca, my departure point. In fact there were really only a couple of places along the way that seemed worth any trouble. I was thinking about Turkey more than Morocco, and the intervening days just seemed like a waste of time. I wished that I could have made my departure date sooner.

The first place that I stopped at and spent a couple of nights was Oualidia, (say Walidia) another beach town that for the most part was devoid of tourists. Well, not quite - there was a convoy of motor homes parked in the trailer camp. The beach there is really quite lovely, there being a huge lagoon for safe swimming and wind surfing. On the other side of the lagoon the waves crash up against the rocks dramatically providing the more thrilling aspect of the ocean’s attraction. The rocks are highly eroded and convoluted, with blow-holes and sink holes and all manner of challenges for walking.

The weather turned REALLY nasty there, making it a good place to leave, so I caught the bus to the next destination - El Jadida. It is a much bigger centre, of at least 150,000 people. It was quite a long hike from the bus station to where I hoped to find a room at the Hotel Bordeaux. I finally found the place deep in the medina, and took a room. This was the cleanest hotel I stayed in in Morocco, and it was really reasonably priced! Eureka!

The main attraction is the Cité Portugaise, the walled fortress which dates from 1506 built by the Portuguese (who called it Mazagan) as one of a string of trading posts along the Atlantic coast. The tiny fortress is really a gem, and an island of tranquility (tranquille!) away from the hustle of the rest of El Jadida.

One of the most interesting features of the Cité is the Citerne Portugaise, a vast vaulted cistern used to collect water, it is illuminated by a single shaft of light. There remains a thin film of water over the floor providing a mirroring of the ceiling and pillars to great effect. Good enough for Orson Wells to use the space in his 1954 film version of Othello - the dramatic riot scene. Very cool place.

The fortress walls are 2 metres thick and provide a great walkway from which you can look out to sea, and across the city. I had good weather for the most part, although it looked pretty threatening for a while. The enormous beach was largely uninspiring in March, but apparently it becomes a real attraction in the summer months.

I liked this place and felt good about my decision to check it out. But I still had 5 days to kill, and was dreading Casablanca. Everything that I had heard and read about the place told me to avoid the big sprawling mess of broken down city. Rabat was my last choice before deferring to Casablanca which I ended up transiting through. And yes, it did look grim….