Details About Essaouria

Attractions

• Dye works - The city's name is derived from the lavender colouring of the natural dye works that have been a vital activity on the nearby 'Purple Islands' for centuries. Products dyed according to this natural process are sought after.
• Portuguese fort - When the Portuguese established a commercial presence here in the 16th century, they built a fort and naval base at the entrance of the harbour and proceeded to control Mogador, as they called the town, for over a century. The Portuguese fort still stands.
• Harbour - The ancient harbour of Essaouira still bustles with a lively fishing market, sardine and pilchard canneries, scores of brightly coloured wooden fishing boats bobbing on the water and the traditional shipyards where they continue to be built to a centuries-old method.
• Artists' colony - The maze of winding alleyways that make up Essaouira's old quarter have long been a favourite of local and international artists, who find inspiration here to produce their best work.

Adventures

Surfing is not the first thing you would associate with Morocco, but the deep waters and strong currents produce the kind of waves that draw surfers to the long stretches of beach, which were once the haunt of hippies and rock stars alike.

Currency

The local currency is the Moroccan dirham (Dh), which is divided into 100 centimes (c).