Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Assilah
The gorgeous whitewashed resort town of Assilah feels like somewhere on a Greek island,
but the tapas and paella on the Spanish menus in the restaurants and the wrought-iron win-
dows on the white houses are but a few reminders that the town was Spanish territory for a
long time. Assilah is an easy and hassle-free introduction to Morocco and, with a good se-
lection of budget hotels and restaurants plus a burgeoning art scene, the town has become a
favourite stop on the traveller's trail of the North Atlantic coast.
The old medina has been seriously gentrified in the last few years as more and more
houses have been bought by affluent Moroccans and Europeans, mainly Spanish. The town
is sleepy for most of the year, but in the summer months the population grows from 12,000
to 110,000, when Moroccan families descend here, as elsewhere along the coast. The small
town is then completely overrun, the beaches are packed and the touts come out in force.
The best time to visit is in spring or autumn when the weather is still pleasant but the
crowds are gone.
History
Assilah has had a turbulent history as a small but strategic port since it began life as the
Carthaginian settlement of Zilis. During the Punic Wars the people backed Carthage, and
when the region fell to the Romans, the locals were shipped to Spain and replaced with
Iberians. From then on, Assilah was inexorably linked with the Spanish and with their nu-
merous battles for territory.
As Christianity conquered the forces of Islam on the Iberian Peninsula in the 14th and
15th centuries, Assilah felt the knock-on effects. In 1471 the Portuguese sent 477 ships
with 30,000 men, captured the port and built the walls that still surround the medina, a trad-
ing post on their famous gold route across Africa. In 1578, King Dom Sebastian of Por-
tugal embarked on an ill-fated crusade from Assilah. He was killed, and Portugal (and its
Moroccan possessions) passed into the hands of the Spanish, who remained for a very long
time.
Assilah was recaptured by Moulay Ismail in 1691. In the 19th century, continuing piracy
prompted Austria and then Spain to send their navies to bombard the town. Its most famous
renegade was Er-Raissouli, one of the most colourful bandits ever raised in the wild Rif
