ESSAOUIRA is by popular acclaim Morocco's most likeable resort: an eighteenth-century town, enclosed by medieval-looking battlements, facing a cluster of rocky offshore islands, and trailed by a vast expanse of empty sands and dunes. Its whitewashed and blue-shuttered houses and colonnades, its wood workshops and art galleries, its boat-builders and sardine fishermen, its feathery Norfolk Island pines which only thrive in a pollution-free atmosphere: all provide a colourful and very pleasant backdrop to the beach. Many of the foreign tourists making their own way to Essaouira, are drawn by the wind, known locally as the alizee , which in spring and summer can be a bit remorseless for sunbathing but creates much-sought-after waves for surfing and windsurfing . In recent years, the town has gained quite a reputation in this respect, promoting itself as "Wind City, Afrika" and hosting national and international surfing contests.

 

The life of the resort, too, is easy and uncomplicated, and very much in the image of the youthful Europeans and Marrakchis who come here on holiday. Not that Essaouira is exclusively a backpackers' resort - these days it attracts all kinds of independent travellers, and increasing numbers of packages, with new chain hotels and villas springing up along the corniche. But, as yet, it's very far from spoilt, and remains a thoroughly enjoyable base to rest up after being in the cities, the Atlas or the desert