"A clean city" a Essaouira Travel Page by JLBG

Essaouira is a 70,000 inhabitants fishing harbour, 150 km west to Marrakech. It is one of the "must see" in Morocco.
Carthagenian sailor Hannon anchored in its well sheltered mooring. Carthagenian used it for centuries as the last continental harbour on the way to the Green-cape islands and to the equator. The Romans took it in 146 BC and put Juba II, the king of Mauretania as their vassal to rule the town. He developped the production of salt fish and of purple. Noble Romans used extensively purple for their clothes and thus the production of purple was very important for them. Purple gave their name to the islands that protects the harbour : "Îles Purpuraires".

Later, the Portuguese took control of the place and called it Mogador. In 1764, Sultan Mohammed Ben Abdallah hired Théodore Cornut, a French architect that worked for the English in Gibraltar. He drew the plans and built up the harbour and the casbah as they are now. The name of Es-Saouira means "the well drawn" and refers to the very regular plan of the city.

To day, Essaouira is a very clean city. Everywhere, posters remind to keep it clean

The fort is one of the main features of the town but their is much to see in this windy and never too hot city.
As the Trade Winds blow in Essaouira, it is always windy. In Summer, while the temperature is often over 40°C in Marrakech (150 km), in Essaouira, it never goes over 25°C !