AZEMMOUR has an oddly remote feel - and history, considering its strategic site on the great Oum Er Rbia river. It has long been outside the mainstream of events. When the Portuguese controlled El Jadida, Safi and Essaouira, they stayed here for under thirty years; later, when the European traders moved in on this coast, the town remained a "closed" port. Little bothered by the French, it remains today very much a backwater and sees possibly fewer tourists than any other Moroccan coastal town.
A short visit, nonetheless, is worthwhile, and the town is easily reached by bus or grand taxi from El Jadida. It's also on a branch line which runs from the Casablanca-Marrakesh main line but there is only one train a day and the station is 2km out of town, on the far side of the P8.
Once in town, getting your bearings is pretty straightforward. Buses and grands taxis stop on Avenue Mohammed V , the main thoroughfare of the new town, where drivers will also emerge. At the street's end is a garden square, the Place du Souk , with the Medina straight ahead. If you want to stay, there are two hotels, both on Avenue Mohammed V: at no. 38 is the sparse but clean Hôtel la Victoire (tel 02/334 7157; 40-100dh), and at no. 78 the Hôtel de la Poste (tel 02/335 7702; 100-150dh) has recently been renovated. The town also has several café-restaurants, best of which is the Café El Manzah on Place du Souk, with an active card school upstairs. There's another café-restaurant down at the beach.
The Medina
The Portuguese remained in Azemmour long enough to build a circuit of walls, which are stacked directly above the banks of the river and dramatically extended by the white, cubist line of the
Medina . The best view of all this - and it is impressive - is from across the river, on the way out of town towards Casablanca.
To look round the Medina, make your way to the Place du Souk, on the landward side of the ramparts, where you will see a sixteenth-century gate with an unusual, European-style, semicircular arch. Through it extends the old kasbah - largely in ruins but safe enough to visit. If you wait around, the local gardien will probably arrive, open things up and show you round; if he doesn't turn up, you might find him by asking at the cafés. Once inside the ruins, you can follow the parapet wall round the ramparts, with views of the river and the gardens, including henna orchards, along its edge. You'll also be shown Dar El Baroud (The House of Powder), a large tower built over the ruins of an old gunpowder store; note also the ruined Gothic window.
The old Mellah - Azzemour had a substantial Jewish population until the 1960s - lies beyond the kasbah at the northern end of the Medina. Here, beside ramparts overlooking the Oum Er Rbia, you will be shown the old town synagogue which is still well maintained and visited occasionally by practising Jews from Casablanca and El Jadida. It's cared for by a local family and you can - for an additional tip - see inside, where rests the tomb of Rabbi Abrahim Moul Niss - still a shrine for Jewish pilgrims and the focus of an August moussem.
These sights might not sound like much on paper, and you'll have to negotiate the final tip with the gardien , but all in all it's an interesting and enjoyable break from El Jadida, or a stop en route to the town, and easily combined with a swim.
