Essaouira
Situated on Morocco's Atlantic coast, Essaouira is a charming port city in the Marrakesh-Safi region. Known until the 1960s as Mogador, this city, with a population of around 78,000, is steeped in history and culture. Essaouira was born out of a unique experiment by the Moroccan 'Alawid sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah in 1760, who commissioned various architects to construct a city tailored to the needs of foreign merchants. The result was a thriving city that served as Morocco's primary commercial port and diplomatic capital from the late 18th to mid-19th century. One must visit the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, the Medina of Essaouira, a testament to its rich past.
