Two weekends ago, I ventured to my second Portuguese beach town, El Jadida. I was determined to have a relaxed and contemplative time, so booked myself into the western-style Ibis Hotel (part of a large chain), right on the water.
It was terrific. I strolled along the ocean on Saturday afternoon, without being bothered by anyone, observing the rocky shore (notice the red stone that, along with reddish sand, is characteristic of the Atlantic coastline of Morocco), and enjoying the strangely warm weather. (It had been very cold the previous week.)
After my walk, I freshened up, had a nice normal meal in the restaurant, saw a rainbow right outside my window facing the beach (and observed that it ended just about 500 yards out), and snacked on dark chocolate and red Moroccan wine in my room while watching American movies on satellite. I'm ashamed to say this sequence of events nearly constituted heaven on earth!
On my way to the medina (old town) on Sunday morning, I passed probably a thousand young men playing soccer on the wide hard beach at low tide. As usual, I photographed them from a distance. Any closer and they'd be offended or at least distracted. 
El Jadida's old town and ramparts are reknowned (and are a World Heritage Site); the Portuguese built the town (then called Mazagan) in 1506 and held it until 1769. It's quite small, but very impressive. The town has an active coastal fishing industry; the small boats around the old medina catch mackerel, sardines and anchovies.
The houses are somewhat reminiscent of Tuscany in shape and color, and the whole town has a beautiful soft golden light - very painterly. I loved this simple image of two houses, showing the shadows of their neighbor's satellite dishes.
The Catholic church was delapidated, but beautifully so! Apparently, when the Portuguese were driven out by the sultan Sidi Mohammed, they dynamited many important buildings and cathedrals. Of course, now at the center of the medina is the mosque, in this case one with a five-sided minaret (the only one in Morocco).
The big draw in El Jadida is the Portuguese Cistern, an amazing well that was once an underground armory, built in a Gothic style in the mid 1500's. It would have been lost to history, but a shopkeeper found it in 1916, when he knocked down a wall to expand his shop. Isn't that weird? How do you lose a big hole in the ground? Orson Welles used the Cistern for scenes from Othello (which of course features a "Moor" from Morocco).
El Jadida is quite popular with Moroccans, especially in the summer. I was one of the few tourists there, and was the only customer in the small stores I visited and in the restaurant where I ate lunch. A truly solitary weekend, but much more relaxed than my trip to Asilah (see previous blog).This past weekend, I ventured to the ruins of Volubilis, a Roman city near Meknes, at the foothills of the Atlas mountains. Stand by for that update! I've got some lesson planning to do for my English class right now.
Until then, b'salaamah.
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