Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ablanca leave roughly every half-hour throughout the day; long-distance buses tend to ori-
ginate in Tangier, so are best booked in advance.
TAXI
Grands taxis to Tangier (Dh20) and Larache (Dh20) depart when full from Rue 2 Mars,
off Ave Mohammed VI. A taxi to Tangier's airport (only 26km from Assilah) costs
Dh250.
TRAIN
The train station is 3km north of Assilah (Dh10 in a green petit taxi). Destinations include
Casablanca (Dh109, four hours, eight daily) via Rabat, Fez (Dh87, four hours, four daily)
and Tangier (Dh16, 45 minutes, 12 daily). One overnight train goes direct to Marrakesh
(Dh186, 9½ hours), but this train originates in Tangier, so buy your ticket in advance.
TOP OF CHAPTER
El-Jadida
POP 148,000
This old Portuguese town, often known as the Cité Portugaise, has a sleepy but atmo-
spheric Unesco World Heritage medina. A lack of investment has helped maintain the in-
tegrity of the town's rambling alleys and ramparts. For much of the year El-Jadida is a
quiet backwater, disturbed only by the crowds of Moroccans flocking to its beautiful
beaches and strolling its boulevards in July and August.
In 1506 the Portuguese built a fortress here to protect their ships and baptised it Maza-
gan, which soon developed into the country's most important trading post. Sultan Sidi
Mohammed ben Abdallah seized Mazagan from the Portuguese following a siege in 1769,
but the Portuguese blew up most of the fort before leaving. Most of the new settlers pre-
ferred to live in the new town and the citadel remained a ruin until the early 19th century
when Sultan Abd er-Rahman resettled some of the Jews of Azemmour in old Mazagan,
and renamed the town El-Jadida, 'the New One' in Arabic.
The large and influential Jewish community soon grew rich on trade with the interior,
and unlike most other Moroccan cities, there was no mellah (Jewish quarter); the Jews
mixed with the general populace and an attitude of easy tolerance was established in the
city. During the French protectorate the town became an administrative centre and a beach
resort, but its port gradually lost out to Safi and Casablanca.
 
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