I‘ve been taking it easy since arriving in Morocco late Sunday night (today is Thursday already). I spent 2 nights in Casablanca & tonight will be my third & final night in El Jadida, 2 hours down the Moroccan Atlantic coast from Casablanca.
Camels on the beach, about as busy as their masters who were, of course, sitting in a nearby cafe. El Jadida (
), Morocco. May 1st, 2014
El Jadida
El Jadida, my first stop on my Moroccan travels outside of Casablanca, is a small fishing town about 2 hours south of Casablanca. There’s not a whole lot going on here which I guess is a large part of the town’s charm. The Portuguese, who sniffed around Morocco until they left in 1769, built a fort here and their town, a small walled settlement now known as Cite Portugaise, is a UNESCO-listed site having being grated World Heritage status in 2004. It – the Cite Portugaise – is another El Jadida charm, as is its expansive beach. I happily whiled away 3 nights here or will have done by the time I leave for Essaouira in the morning, yet another fishing village further down the Moroccan Atlantic coast. I caught up on some blogging, drank a lot of coffee, watched people playing soccer, watched people fishing, & ambled around the lanes of the Cite Portugaise.
El Jadida’s UNESCO listed Cite Portugaise is a compact maze of twisting streets surrounded by ochre ramparts. There’s not a lot going on in here – there are a few restaurants and tourist tat shops – so just wandering the streets of the UNESCO-listed region is the order of the day, any day. El Jadida, Morocco. May 1st, 2014
– UNESCO commenting on Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida)
This was the pictorial highlight of El Jadida’s Cite Portugaise for me, the Citerne Portugaise, a vast, vaulted cistern lit by a single shaft of light. Used originally to collect emm, water, it’s an eerie place and doubtless it wouldn’t even warrant a picture were it not for the ever-present thin film of water on the floor reflecting a mirror image of the vaulted ceiling and columns. I took many a picture in here over two visits but only on today’s visit did the beam of light from above actually look like a beam of light. And the two subjects to the left added a nice sense of scale. Citerne Portugaise, El Jadida, Morocco. May 1st, 2014
Loving the decor here in #morocco The hallway outside my room in Hotel Royal #eljadida @ El Jadida http://t.co/efzefEWvpJ
— davidMbyrne.com (@ByrneDavidM) May 1, 2014
A Few Early Moroccan Observations
• Everyone speaks French & all signage, menus & the like are in French. The French were here until 1956 when Morocco gained independence. I’m getting by.
• There is a massive cafe culture here – cafes are everywhere & older Moroccan men just seem to spend their days sitting in cafes playing cards, drinking coffee and smoking.
• The country seems to love the colour blue – it’s everywhere, especially indoors.
• That said, the countryside is very green. At least what I’ve seen of it between Casablanca & El Jadida. I expected it to be more barren, more desolate.
• Olives are served with every meal. I hate olives.
• Much like in India, where everywhere you look people are playing cricket, here in Morocco everyone is playing soccer – on the beach, in the streets. Anywhere they can really. And at all hours of the day. Doesn’t anyone go to school? Or have a job?
Playing soccer as seen from the ramparts of the Cite Portugaise, El Jadida, Morocco. April 29th, 2014
Waves & fishing offshore of the beach in El Jadida. This guy was a good ways out. I’m not too sure what he was standing on but he sure as hell wasn’t walking on water. El Jadida, Morocco. May 1st, 2014
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